Into dangerous waters
by Ayame Rei
Summary: When a girl decides to ask for a vacation in the world of the living, she is sent there on the condition that she stay with Urahara Kisuke. Will she be able to stay in the world of the living, or will she enter a whole different universe with no way of returning?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, This is my first fanfiction, Ever so I hope you're not too unimpressed. If you have any recommendations or any words of advice please review and tell me! Also, please review anyway, It'll be fun reading them. **

* * *

**Karakura town**

The shinigami reeled backwards, the force of the blow surprising her. Luckily she was able to avoid being cleaved in half by blocking with her zanpakutou just in time. The iron nails of the monster in front of her gleamed as it sliced again, aiming to kill. The effortless way she dodged the claws pleased her, it meant that she had improved. A heavy hand struck the ground next to the girl and she jumped on, running up the overgrown limb like a child runs up a wheelchair plank, her zanpakutou raised above her head. The shining katana bit into the white mask of the hollow, cutting it as if it were butter. As she pulled my sword away, The hollow disappeared, turning into black flakes that were blown away by the wind. The teen whipped her sword sharply to the right, flicking blood off the well kept blade and returned it to it's scabbard.

"I hope yamamoto soutaicho will let me rest a little when i get back." she says to the blade."maybe he'll even let me release bankai. I know you've been aching to get a little action these past decades."

There was no reply from the blade but she could feel it yearning to be released. Yamamoto sama wouldn't even let her release shikai, it would be hard convincing him but it was time she was allowed, the girl would never let her skills get rusty.

The senkaimon gate glowed as it opened and she glance back at the human world. It was a shame that the only times she could come here, she could only stay to eliminate the pests the soutaicho wouldn't trust with his precious captains.

* * *

**Seireitei at midnight. **

The streets of seireitei were quiet, a rare happening Since the shinigami were so addicted to drinking late into the night and waking up with head splitting hangovers, Matsumoto and her two men most of all. Hitsugaya toshiro was so lost in thought that he almost missed a lithe figure darting from shadow to shadow, heading straight for the 1st divisions gates. He smiled, happy that she was working so hard but a hand clamped onto his shoulder and he turned to meet a drunken orange haired fukutaicho with a giant bust. Anger instantly rose, more than enough to forget the mysterious figure running around seireitei at midnight.

"Matsumoto-" He says, a dangerous smile spread on his face." I hope you're ready to deal with the consequences-"

The fukutaicho pinched his cheeks roughly, staggering slightly and ignorant to the white haired captain's distress. She didn't notice when he started growling either.

" you're such...a cute little kid...I want to take...you home and cuddle to death but...my taicho is such a meanie, he'd probably kick both of us out." Toshiro bristled at the word 'kid' but of course drunken matsumoto did not notice, she cocked her head frowning,"though I'm pretty sure...you're not much taller than him, he's so _shooort!" _That did it, a vein popped in the young captains forehead. His eye started to twitch as a dark aura possessed him.

On the other side of seireitei, a young Kuchiki Rukia woke up to the usual sound of an incredibly irked voice of the captain of the 10th division shout at his Presumably drunk vice captain. She promised herself to never be at the receiving end of his wrath, _ever. _

* * *

**Yamamoto soutaicho's office**

"Yamamoto sama, you should not be up this late." A female voice rang from the shadows prompting the soutaicho to look up from his paperwork just in time to see the owner of the voice step into the room. The woman was dressed in her usual attire of a hakama and furisode. A sleeveless black haori over her darker clothes was tied together with a royal blue obi. Her hair was as dark as always, two bits framing her face and held together with a sandglass looking hairpiece reached below her waist. The rest of her glossy raven hair was worn back in a high ponytail. Yamamoto took all this in in a glimpse and waited patiently as she made her way to his desk. This girl was not part of the gotei 13, in fact, most of the captains didn't know she had existed before the winter war. The girl served many purposes, a highly competent spy, A capable messenger not to mention an excellent warrior. She had the strength to match all the captains, except the soutaicho himself. The only reason she was not confined in the maggots nest was because she was so loyal to seireitei and the gotei 13, She protected them from the worst alone from the shadows, she refused to be acknowledged for her efforts and personally the man thought it was for the better. Yamamoto soutaicho would not let this valuable game piece in protecting soul society go to waste, and neither could central 46.

" you would like to have a break, not only that but you want to release your bankai as well." The old captain summarized after hearing her request. The young girl nodded. Yamamoto soutaicho breathed in deeply, weighing the pros and cons of her request. After what seemed like a millennia, the soutaicho cleared his throat and gave her his answer.

" You may go to the world of the living for 2 weeks-" the raven haired girl beamed. "however-"

the girl frowned at the words. She had noticed that the captain of the 1st division had left out her request to release her bankai. That was something she wouldn't, couldn't just let go of, she needed to let go or else...or else something would happen. Something that was unforgivable. Something she would never ever be able to take back no matter what she did. The captain, sensing her darkening mood, decided to continue in hopes of brightening her up.

"However, you must have a seal, removable only in emergencies or upon request. You must reside at the urahara shop where you may release your bankai, after asking of course. you may leave immediately."

The young girl was startled, she never expected it to be this easy. _And here I thought yamamoto sama was just a stubborn old geezer who refuses to listen to reason_, she thought as the turned to walk out the door, _I__ guess he's a nice stubborn geezer who refuses to listen to reason_. She laughed silently to herself.

The white haired soutaicho was not happy. Not only was he about to loose his important source of information for 2 weeks, she might destroy half the town by accident. It was entirely possible and he was afraid that urahara wouldn't even try to stop her. He and Youruichi might just stand on the sidelines laughing their heads off at the petite shinigami going on a rampage.

* * *

**With Byakuya, seireitei**

Kuchiki Byakuya could not sleep. He could never sleep after all the ruckus on the other side of seireitei. It was impossible to calm down just stop thinking enough to fall asleep after hearing Hitsugaya Taicho's famous speech.

It wasn't as much a speech as it was a nice, long lecture at the top of your lungs. Byakuya didn't know how the young captain hadn't permanently damaged his throat yet.

The Taicho decided to go on a nice leisurely walk in the middle of the night. It could calm down his nerves and erase his thoughts effectively. He slipped out of his house quietly, using shunpo to get outside the Kuchiki manor. As he walked, footsteps sounded, they were hurried, almost…excited. Byakuya decided to hide, himself and his reiatsu.

He wasn't the captain of the 6th division and head of the Kuchiki family for nothing. With his presence concealed, the noble watched as a young girl skipped past.

She was beautiful he had to admit. She looked about Rukia's age with glowing cream skin and long raven hair tied up in a ponytail, two pieces framing her face held together by a sandglass looking hairpiece.

A black haori tied at the waist with two pieces of cloth covered her Hakama and furisode. Her zanpakutou gleamed at her side and a satchel was crossing her torso.

Honestly, he didn't give a damn about how pretty she was, what caught his eye was the look of pure joy in her eyes. It was so rare here since everyone was always grumbling about paperwork, or a hangover, or meetings, or harsh captains, or scary captains and then there was Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

_Everyone _was scared of him, even Byakuya, but most of all the mad scientist's division. They were getting turned different colors, or mutated, regularly.

He followed her, he had never seen her so happy, _Why is she so happy, and more importantly, why is she up at this hour? _This really puzzled him. _She_ really puzzled him. He decided to go visit Yamamoto Soutaicho first thing in the morning; maybe he'd tell him where she was going. She was, after all, the soutaicho's subordinate.

The girl started using shunpo, heading towards the Senkaimon. Byakuya easily kept up, still hiding his presence. She neared the gates; they were opening themselves, spilling glowing white light into the dark, calm night.

He looked back at the girl who was now in front of the Senkaimon and was surprised to see her looking straight back at him. She smiled, waved then walked in, hell butterfly beating its wings beside her.

Byakuya was shocked speechless.

Needless to say, he went back to the Kuchiki manor and went straight to bed preferring not to mull over the fact that she had noticed him.

* * *

**With Suzuname Kurami, Dangai**

That was interesting. She never would have thought she would be seen so late a night. She was caught, and by _Byakuya_ no less. Yamamoto Soutaicho wouldn't be happy, but there was nothing she could do about that right now, she'd deal with it when it happened. Like all the times before her, the oozing walls made her shiver with disgust. _Ewwww_, she thought flinching away from the slime. She decided to move faster, _I want to get away from this muck as fast as I can, not to mention I'm looking forward to meeting with this Urahara person. _

She could see the light at the end of the tunnel, quite literally. The end of the Dangai was glowing; she knew that was her way out. She moved faster, not wanting to spend another second in the Dangai.

* * *

**Urahara shop, Karakura town**

Two sets of glowing double doors opened in front of the Urahara shop and a young girl stepped out. If you'd call her young, that is, She was no doubt at least over 150. That was kind of young in soul society terms.

It was still dark in Karakura town, all was peaceful, but everyone knew it wouldn't last. It never did.

She was not expecting Urahara Kisuke to be awake; she didn't expect anyone in Karakura town to be either. It was a little over 2AM here and she really didn't want to disturb.

The girl decided to just sit down in front of the store and introduce herself when they all woke up. Just to pass the time, she would have a nice, long conversation with her zanpakutou.

**Why don't you just go inside? **The question resonated in her mind. Karitori Tenshi's voice was beautiful. The sound rang softly like bells.

As she concentrated and calmed her mind, she entered her Inner world.

A beautiful tree had leaves like emeralds. Instead of fruit, gems of all different colors and sizes successfully giving the tree a heavenly aura. There was no rain but water dripped from a branch, falling into the water that surrounded the whole area.

In the water that the tree was growing in, a single platform, circular in shape and gleaming white in color. It wasn't large; it only allowed enough space to sit down cross-legged without touching the water.

Not that it would be a problem; she had found out that you could walk on the clear blue water, though she much preferred the platform.

Her zanpakutou appeared in front of her, standing on the water as if it were solid. She smiled a greeting at her partner. The girl's zanpakutou was beautiful, pale creamy skin and dark blue hair. Her eyes gleamed like sapphires and her wings, pitch-black feather that looked softer than clouds. She fought the urge to stroke them.

"I would hate to disturb them, it wouldn't make a good first impression."

**Tsk, you don't need to sit out here in the parking lot either. Go sit on the roof or something.**

"No! What if they wake up, this Urahara Kisuke guy would just get mad at me."

**This Urahara Kisuke guy is probably a perv who would love to have a mysterious beauty such as you wake him up in the dead of night. **

"Wha…What are you implying!" The girl was blushing furiously now. Honestly, there wasn't a reason to; she was just a closet perv to come to a conclusion that would tinge her cheeks so red. Karitori Tenshi laughed, she was on her knees clutching her stomach and wiping her eyes.

The girl got redder, but for a different reason. She _hated_ being laughed at, hated being insulted and absolutely _hated it_ when people looked down on her. The only person that could laugh at her without being punched into next century was her zanpakutou, and she still didn't like it. The raven-haired beauty huffed and turned away mad.

**Aww, c'mon princess, don't be like that. **

"Princess?" The girl had turned her head back and had raised her eyebrows at the zanpakutou spirit. Tenshi just smiled.

**What you don't like it? All girls want to be princesses.**

"Who'd want to be compared to weak damsels in distress?"

**Shows how much of a girl you are on the inside.**

The girl's sarcasm was infamous. Her Zanpakutou's was more so. The girl turned around as Karitori Tenshi sat down on the water.

"I just don't like being called weak."

**I know, **the zanpakutou spirit muttered.

"What was that?" the girl could not properly hear her partner's words.

**Nothing**, she said smiling. **More importantly, I'm begging for some action, I haven't been released in ages! **

That wasn't true. Seireitei had just finished the war with Aizen, and what's more, the mysterious Kurosaki Ichigo had been given some of Yamamoto sama's reiatsu. Not, just the soutaicho's spiritual power, some of the taichos' and fukutaichos' as well.

" That's not true, not true at all! We were just in a war!"

**Then explain why you agreed, you could hear them couldn't you? You can't take risks with this, you wait too long and…it'll happen. Again. **

"I don't need you worrying about me. I'm fine."

**Fine? Don't pretend. It's a good think we're releasing bankai today; otherwise…I don't even want to think about what's going to happen. **

"Hn. Nothing will happen. I have it all under control." There was no reason why, but at that moment, the headache escalated, causing the girl to wince. This action did not pass the by the faithful zanpakutou, she had seen everything but chose not to aggravate her partner further.

Tenshi decided to change the subject; the sky was looking a little cloudy. **Do you think Urahara Kisuke will be hot?**

"What!? Um—no…?" the young teen was panic-stricken. One would think that a 17 year old wouldn't be so innocent. Karitori Tenshi let out a laugh, smiling warmly at her partner. She put on a sly one afterwards.

**Aww…c'mon. Don't tell me you didn't think about it! **

"Maybe." The teen looked up, surprised at her answer. She had answered without thinking! " What! N-N-No! Never-" She fought the furious blush that was appearing on her face desperately but to no avail. The young girl mentally banged her head against a (mental) brick wall.

**Well, you're about to find out. Someone seems to be wondering what you are doing on his parking lot. **

No sooner had the zanpakutou with a love for teasing her partner said this that the young teen found herself back in reality.

She found herself sitting in front of a man who looked to be about 23. She knew looks could be deceptive and that he was around 350. He had messy blonde hair and was dressed entirely in green and white. A dark green haori with white diamonds, green and white striped hat and clogs completed his look. Urahara Kisuke held a fan in one hand and a cane in the other. His fan covered half of his face, exposing a little stubble, shaded eyes and a slight smile.

She would have found him hot, if he hadn't been so old.

"My, My. Who might you be?" His tone was flirty and held an underlying current of danger. The girl stood up, ready to introduce herself.

"My name is Suzuname Kurami, and you are Kisuke Urahara."

* * *

**Yeah so that was the first chapter, Whaddaya think? **

**I'll try to post every Saturday or Sunday, please don't blame me if it's late because I have school and homework is a bitch. **

**bye!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own bleach...or fairy tail. I totally forgot this until yesterday!**

**Gunzen: Holy sheeps, my first review ever! Yay! Thank you so much, and I hope this chapter isn't disappointing. When I got the review, I almost had a heart attack…I didn't think anyone would read it...eheh… **

**I've also tried to make it longer but it's the beginning of term for me so a lot of schoolwork being given out but I WILL get the next chapter done on time! Promise! I will try to work on some pairings, but I'm definitely ****_not _****good at that kind of stuff so if you have any requests…**

**So i've made a few changes, edited some mistakes. I'm sort of a perfectionist and if I left this chapter like that it would only embarrass me. I don't think i've made any major changes, just wordings, i hope i've captured each of the characters better. **

* * *

**Inside the Urahara shop**

"Ahh, yes. I think I remember Yamamoto Soutaicho telling me something about a girl coming to stay." Urahara glanced at the girl from across the table, a steaming glass of tea on the wooden table in front of the room's inhabitants. "I believe her name _was _Suzuname Kurami."

Kurami smiled. Unbeknownst to Urahara, there was a war raging in her head and neither side would budge.

She gripped her traditional Japanese teacup harder, and the voices in her head got louder, threateningly loud, but she could ignore it for now.

"If you would not mind me staying for 2 weeks, I will be in your hands." The young shinigami bowed her head, looking up through her eyelashes at Urahara Kisuke with a slight smile.

"No, no. It won't be a trouble at all! However, I suppose there are… _special_… conditions surrounding your stay?"

Suzuname Kurami winced; the teacup was on verge of breaking from the pressure of her grip. She could hardly hear anything now that the voices had gotten deafening.

_Kill him…Kill…rip him apart…burn…slice. KILL HIM, I_ dare _you_.

The words repeated over and over again like a broken disk. Louder and louder, more menacing, more persuasive, pushing her to the edge and slowly...dragging her down. She let the voices wash over her head like a tide and finally gave in.

Urahara Kisuke, a humble shopkeeper watched as the raven-haired shinigami raised her head from her bowing position, her smile gone feral. There was insanity in her look that hadn't been there before and the ex-shinigami couldn't help but think back to the conversation he had with the Soutaicho.

* * *

**Around 4 hours ago, at the Urahara shop**

"One of my...subordinates...will stay with you at the Urahara shop."

What? No one drops a bombshell like this at 3 in the morning! Especially if the said person just _woke_ him up. Urahara tried his hardest to keep the annoyance out of his voice and expression, opting to smile coyly instead.

"Yes, yes, that would be fine."

"That wasn't a question." The shopkeeper grit his teeth, hiding it with his infamous fan. "There are some…conditions…though."

Oh, the old fart was going to get some now! Urahara would be sure to send Kurosaki to raise hell in seireitei for revenge.

"Really? May I ask what they are?" He was sure to keep his voice light, making it sound like he couldn't care less about what conditions there were. In truth, he was really quite curious, the Soutaicho has never sounded so…nervous.

"This is a vacation of sorts for her, however, her idea of a vacation may differ from others. She wants a place where she can safely...let loose without harming anyone. This girl is a threat to Seireitei as she is now as well as anyone who happens to be around her. She will not bat an eyelash at killing you and I will _not _give you permission to permanently incapacitate my subordinate."

"I understand." Urahara Kisuke was almost bursting with curiosity. Who was this mysterious figure? If she was so dangerous, why was she not in the maggot's nest, he had seen people locked in there for less.

"A word of warning, her bankai's power is to draw on pain. An injury from her blade will be your end."

The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes in anticipation. He would have to be careful not to get cut. His best option is to either wear her out as soon as possible or...knock her out while she is distracted. He may need to call on a favour. This girl had supposedly mastered her bankai yet he had never heard of her before. He prided himself on knowing everything, well, almost everything.

_A blade that inflicts pain…this will be interesting._

* * *

**At present time, Kurosaki clinic**

Kurosaki Ichigo woke up to the sound of scratching from the outside. The teen growled in annoyance, it was probably his dad again. Judging from the sounds, the boy's father had climbed up onto the roof in hopes of jumping in through the window to attack his son.

Honestly, will his dad ever learn!?

The window shattered as a large man jumped through. He had black hair, stubble and was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and dark pants. His plan to ambush his son was currently foiled as the orange haired Kurosaki grabbed him and threw in out of the door he had previously opened.

The man landed in an undignified heap on the floor, his legs bent over his head in some sort of weird yoga pose.

"Good going son! You win this time but next time, I'll be the one on top!" Kurosaki Isshin shouted as he ran away.

"Since when has that ever been the case!?" Ichigo was shouting at the door to his room to the retreating figure, " and you broke my window again! You'd better fix that!"

Since the ex captain, and Ichigo's dad, decided to take on the role as the most effective alarm clock in the entire universe, Ichigo hardly ever had trouble waking up on time, unfortunately that included the weekends.

The substitute shinigami sat back down on bed, rubbing the back of his head. He half wished he could go back to sleep but now that he was up; he might as well get started with the day.

As he was about to get up and start his daily routine, something flew past his head and splattered on the wall.

It was clearly a message and he knew exactly from whom. A vein popped on his forehead as he smiled like the devil himself, " Urahara KISUKE."

* * *

**Back at the Urahara shop, around 15 minutes later**

"No matter what you think, that is not an effective way of getting a message across. What the hell are my sisters gonna think?" The Kurosaki was pissed; he was very pissed off at the evil scientist who decided it was ok to send messages with flying balls of paint and slime.

"Aww, Kurosaki-kun, at least I made it green this time." Urahara whined.

"LIKE THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!" They were in the basement now,

"Or would you rather have it in red, like last time?"

"You're missing the point! The _point _is that I don't want it AT ALL!"

"Aww, Kurosaki kun that's no fun!"

"No, what's not fun is cleaning that stuff off my wall, what the hell do you use?"

The shopkeeper decided to look away at that moment, choosing to avoid the question as best as he could. Ichigo looked at him incredulously, was he _trying _to be suspicious on purpose?

They stopped in front of a girl who looked to be in her inner world. The former captain of the 12th division explained their situation while the boy sized his opponent up.

* * *

**In Kurami's inner world **

The girl and her zanpakutou were in a heated argument, debating over the girl's sanity, but it was already too late.

**You said you had everything under control; explain to me why the stones have turned to obsidian.** The beautiful woman hissed, eyes narrowed, arms crossed and glaring at her partner.

The once beautiful tree now held a different beauty about it, deathly beauty. The many multicolored gems that decorated the tree had turned into obsidian, marking the return of her insanity that had haunted the girl since _that day_.

"Relax, I know you want to get some action too. This way, we can both have some fun." The girl glanced lazily at her zanpakutou. "I can kill him."

Her entire demeanor had changed; she was lounging on the platform, one foot in the water, the other leg used as a stand to rest her arm. She was propping herself up on her right arm as she smiled crookedly at her partner.

The zanpakutou had had enough. This was not her partner; this was the _monster_ that lived inside her partner, one that should have never been released. This was all because Kurami was too stubborn to realize when things had gone too far.

**Leave**.

This one word held a multitude of meanings but the most important, and most direct, was to leave Kurami's inner world, immediately.

* * *

**In the basement of the Urahara shop **

Suzuname Kurami opened her eyes to see the blonde shopkeeper and an orange haired shinigami. Orange haired shinigami with a giant kitchen knife...this must be the famous Kurosaki Ichigo! She'd kill him too; she'd kill them all. It would be fun, wouldn't it?

The raven-haired teen was itching for a fight, the madness in her eyes obvious and dangerous.

Urahara and Ichigo could feel the killing intent radiating off of her like waves, it made it a little difficult to breathe. The girl he now knew to be Suzuname Kurami was getting up slowly, almost lazily, smiling malevolently at the duo.

God help him if this was just another Kenpachi, although...instead of wanting to fight him again and again, this one wanted to kill him. This would not be the first time she had killed, he could tell. He didn't know how he felt about this, honestly.

He eyed the girl sharply, scowled as she got up, her Hakama and furisode billowing behind her, watched as she smirked at him and watched as she unsheathed her zanpakutou.

Suzuname's eyes gleamed with malice as she took a stance and uttered a command that would shift the world upside down: "BANKAI!"

Power exploded from her, a rush of wind surrounded her and the air around her spoke of her felt strength flood into her limbs and smiled, satisfied.

"Jikan no Mon, Karitori Tenshi."

It was a beautiful scythe, it's blade black and longer than her arm, almost longer than her. There was a beautiful design where the blade connected with the stick. It reminded him of a raven's wing made out of crystal shaped obsidian. It was alluring, but held the promise of blood. This and the girl's pitch black clothes made her look like the _grim reaper_, as if death itself trying to steal their souls.

The two shinigami only had time to unsheathe their swords before she attacked. The girl was relentless. This coupled with her speed was just a recipe for destruction.

A maniacal laughter rose as she swung her scythe in an arc, aiming for their heads. Her two opponents scattered, there _was_ a better chance for them winning if they both attacked from different directions.

The giant weapon in her hands looked weightless as she brought it down again only for Ichigo to dodge the blade aiming to skewer his head. She twisted it to the side as it neared the ground and swung towards Urahara who had tried to attack her from behind. He avoided the blade carefully, getting pushed back and away from his opponent.

He attacked again, only to get kicked back a few meters. Ichigo was almost stabbed before he realized that the end of her weapon was sharpened to a fine point that could skewer a wild boar.

It seemed like they were never going to get anywhere as long as they weren't serious.

"Shibari, Benihime." Kurami grunted as a large, bloodred net landed on top of her, trapping the girl."Hiasobi, benihime, Juzutsunagi."

Small orbs appeared along the outside length of the net, bursting into flames along the way. Her opponents shielded themselves as the orbs reached the trapped shinigami and a mighty explosion occurred.

Urahara Kisuke tried to hide his surprise as the young girl emerged, wide eyed but breathing. Her furisode was steaming and they saw a flash of fury as she beheld her burned sleeves. It disappeared so quickly they wondered if it was there in the first place. She seemed oblivious to the burns along her arms and legs.

"You're finally serious." She dimpled prettily then narrowed her eyes, smiling slimily."It would be a shame if you died without a fight."

Those words pissed Ichigo off. How did she expect to win when she was outnumbered and had so little reiryoku left? He would have already said something if he wasn't so sure that it would reach her in the state she was in.

Kurami was the one who attacked next, jumping forwards in one gigantic leap and bringing her zanpakutou around to try and chop their heads off. She knew it wouldn't hit, they would dodge, and that is exactly what they did, stepping back and masterfully avoiding the cursed blade.

She swung again and again, never stopping. The expert way she wielded her weapon made it seem like a dance, it was hypnotizing.

The scythe twirled and spun around her body, covering all her blind spots to the best of it's abilities.

Ichigo evaded her giant weapon, letting it hit the ground. She used the momentum to spring forwards and catch them off guard with a kick, her hand never leaving her zanpakutou.

As soon as the two shinigami regained their timing, they started attacking; the scythe twirled in her hands, creating a boundary between her and the sharp, pointy swords.

Ichigo got close and swung Zangetsu down, her scythe flew up to block his attack and push his sword away with the momentum.

However, she couldn't move fast enough to block Urahara's sword as it bit into her back but she managed to keep the sword from cutting too deep by pushing on it with the curved blade of her zanpakutou.

She was the very image of a horrifying monster with her wild, crazy eyes, a maniacal grin and blood dripping from her back, staining the dusty floor.

"Let me rip your life away from you." She swayed dangerously, staggering slightly before sticking her scythe into the ground and leaning on it to catch her balance. The sweet way she said those words contradicted the actual contents completely.

She sounded so happy, too…

Her control over the weapon was impressive, to say the least. She seemed to know every inch of the weapon, as if she had used it every day since she was born. It was an extension of her soul and she was familiar with exactly how it liked to move.

She never seemed to stop and she never seemed to tire. As soon as this thought crossed Ichigo's mind, her scythe came out of nowhere and hit, hard. Driving him back. Urahara retreated to stand beside the orange haired Kurosaki, panting like he had run a marathon around soul society.

"We're just not allowed to fatally injure her, right?" Ichigo asked, eyeing the girl warily.

"We're not allowed to injure her at all, Yamamoto Soutaicho made it very clear."

"It sounds more like he's trying to kill us than anything else."

"Who knows? Maybe he is—" Urahara was cut off, however, when the girl started humming, casually checking her nails.

She abruptly disappeared, using shunpo to get towards duo, "please don't ignore me, it's rude."

She swung hard and the two jumped back, trying not to get caught by her blade.

Dust flew as the scythe hit the ground, cloaking Kurami's presence but they knew she was there, her presence was unmistakable.

"But," Urahara continued, " I don't think we have a choice." He was serious.

_She would have a whole two weeks to recover, plus, Orihime probably wouldn't stand by if she knew there was someone she could save from dying._ Ichigo thought. He was in loathe to ask for the help of his friend when she wasn't involved in this, but her help might be necessary.

They watched as she yanked her scythe off the ground with no trouble at all, throwing her weapon over her shoulder like Ichigo had done so many times before.

"Let me skin you alive and hang you up above your graves like a flag." She said in all seriousness, then laughed. "I promised it will look cool."

"God, she's violent."

The dance went on, she would jump over their blades, and kick them down when they tried to dodge her scythe. She seemed to have a sixth sense, knowing exactly where her opponents were, and when they were attacking her. She noticed almost everything, taking in the details like an critic would take in a piece of artwork.

It was not a one sided battle though; the girl's arms and legs were a patchwork of light cuts and bruises. Ichigo and Urahara had split up again and were attacking her separately.

Despite this, she was grinning like a madwoman. She still reminded Ichigo of Kenpachi, but less of the brute strength and monster reiatsu, and more of the quick reflexes and killer flexibility.

Urahara thrust benihime towards the girl and she jumped, grabbing the blade with one hand and cartwheeling _on the sword_ to kick him in the face with her heel, twisting enough just so that she could land on her feet. Her tricks were endless, it was like she couldn't _feel _the pain or had become immune to it.

Ichigo decided to try his hand at getsuga tensho. He watched as her eyes widened fractionally then was covered up by the glowing blue light of his attack. His eyes bulged out of his head; _She was supposed to _dodge _that! Why didn't she…_

His thoughts were cut short as a sharp pain erupted in a line across his back. It wasn't that deep of a cut, but he knew it would only get worse.

He had seemed to be swallowed up in his attack but she assumed she had flashed stepped out of the way. She was fast. He hadn't even seen her…

_If I remember correctly, she could make me collapse right now; lucky she's a sadistic bitch. _Ichigo thought, narrowing his eyes at the comment. His wound flared in sudden intense pain and he landed on one knee, gritting his teeth.

"I'm bored, so.._._" She declared with a glint in her eyes. "I'm going to kill you now. "

Suzuname Kurami gave him a wide smile. Her crazed eyes promised more pain.

Ichigo shakily got up, he had to keep going through the pain or she'd kill him. Sure she'd take her time but he had no doubts she'd kill him.

He would _not _let her hurt anyone anymore. He knew that when she came to, she'd be horrified. How many times have she lost control?

"I am _not _losing. It wouldn't be wrong to say I don't know you but there's no way in hell i'm losing when you're like this. You want to protect the people so bad that you'd isolate yourself? Fine, but you won't be able to stay alone forever, rather, i won't let you. I _will _beat you, and then I'm going to save you."

She was surprised enough to go silent. Something along the lines of sadness flashed in her eyes and he knew she had already had enough of grieving for the loss of friends. She had had enough of hiding in the shadows so that she didn't kill any more people precious to her.

How could you kill your friends if you didn't have any?

* * *

**With Urahara, basement of the Urahara shop**

Urahara watched as the girl finally dropped her guard, saw the sadness in her heart and eyes begging for help, and it was all Kurosaki's doing.

He had planned to let the Kurosaki boy distract her so that he could get in and knock her out. Ichigo had done a better job than expected.

Urahara used shunpo to get closer and try to hit her on the back of her head. That would knock anyone out, but as soon as he saw Ichigo's face, he knew he had made a mistake.

He saw, rather than felt, the blood well up on the now open cut on his stomach. The pain followed almost instantly. It was intense crippling pain, he knew she was watching him, satisfied, but he couldn't pretend like this pain was nothing.

It felt as if he were being flayed alive, the cut was screaming and _he _felt like screaming. He couldn't manage to stay upright, spots danced in front of his eyes.

He was definitely strong enough to end this without a problem, even without using bankai, so why was he in this situation right now? Maybe it was his reluctance to kill the girl he had only just met this morning.

He could faintly see that Kurosaki was in the same position he was, though the wound was on his back. Urahara was clinging to his consciousness by a thread. He couldn't give up; he refused to let her kill him.

* * *

**With Ichigo**

The substitute shinigami saw as his first mentor crumbled. He would have dodged it easily, he could have predicted this. He would never have taken the risk so what had made him make such a reckless move?

Ichigo was in pain, his back was flaming and there was nothing he could do about it. He had to help her, he knew. There was no way in _hell_ he'd let her be alone any longer.

He knew what it was like to hold the whole world on his shoulders. If protecting _everyone _was what she wanted, he'd do it with her, she wouldn't ever have to hide anymore.

"bankai."

* * *

**With Kurami**

Suzuname Kurami was ecstatic. It was impossible to be able to stand up after being exposed to that much pain but here he was, standing. She knew that it was a ridiculous amount; she was feeling lightheaded enough to know that.

Just standing was a feat in itself but the look in his eyes showed that he was determined to win this fight. She had to give it to him that he didn't give up easily; she almost felt…respect for the boy.

It might not look like it, but using her bankai when most of her spiritual energy was sealed sapped her strength. There was no practice she could do to make sure she was able to stay in the state longer, unless she wanted to go torture some innocent wildlife.

She stalked towards the orange haired teen. He was _way_ taller than she was, and he looked _years_ older than she was. _That scowl on his face makes him look like an old man. I don't know if he _can _smile. _

Kurami always marveled at when shinigamis' shihakusho changed along with their bankais', not a lot of zanpakutos did that.

She came to a halt in front of him and gripped her scythe harder. She was going to kill him. She was going to kill them all. She would erase all of her pain with blood. That way she'd know for sure that she'd be punished for what she's done.

Kurami raised her scythe, looking forward to kicking the substitute shinigami's head across the dusty ground towards Urahara Kisuke. Bloodlust blinded her to the world around her. She was in a world of her own now.

Ichigo swung his bankai in an arc but there was no strength in the blow, he was in too much pain. Kurami saw her chance and the corners of her mouth twitched up in a chilling smile.

The scythe's blade flashed down and…stopped.

The girl crumbled forwards, straight into Ichigo's outstretched arms revealing a panting Urahara standing behind her with benihime in his hand. He had knocked her out with the hilt of his blade and was now staring at the unconscious shinigami below him.

The pain on his stomach abated, leaving a dull throb he hardly noticed. They stood there for a few minutes. They should have felt happy, sad or tired but all they could feel was relief. Ichigo was the first to break the silence.

"What now?"

"We'll get our cuts looked after, could you please carry Suzuname san upstairs?"

Urahara had sheathed his sword, turning it into a cane once more. Neither of them had recovered enough to move yet, the echoes of the pain they had experienced made sure of that.

The shopkeeper looked at the unconscious shinigami, how could this girl have such a deadly bankai? Was it a sign that her soul was crying? She was so desperate, her entire being was aching, and he could feel it.

Urahara took a few steps forwards, relishing it when his limbs didn't give out due to the pain. Ichigo followed his lead, holding the girl in his arms.

As they climbed the stairs, Ichigo couldn't help but think back to the fight, there was so much sorrow in her eyes, he vowed he would find a way to lessen it, he'd never leave a friend to suffer and now…he considered her his friend, even if she might not know who he was when she woke up.

She needed a friend and that was exactly what he was going to give her.

Tessai crowded around his boss as they emerged from the basement. Jinta and Ururu were there was Ichigo set the girl down on the tatami mat gently.

"Ichigo." Urahara sang from the other room, "Could you come here so Tessai can look at that cut?" Oh good. The –cough-evil-cough- shopkeeper was back to his usual energetic self.

He didn't like it when Urahara was serious; it made him realize that the situation was just as bad as it looked. There was no silly comment to lighten the mood; instead, there was the determination to do whatever has to be done to save the people he cared about. That wasn't bad, just...different, heavier.

Ichigo sat down next to Urahara who was lying on the ground underneath glowing green light emitted from Tessei's hands. His cut was much deeper than Ichigo's was so it would take longer to heal.

"As soon as your injuries are looked after, you should go back to the Kurosaki clinic, I suspect your family might start to worr—"

"Urahara san, something happened!" Ururu called from beside Suzuname Kurami, her voice panicked.

Ichigo was spurred into action; leaping up and throwing the delicate sliding door open, destroying it in the process.

"Oh dear." Urahara called out from behind Ichigo and he froze up, realizing his mistake too late. The Shopkeeper and Tessai loomed over Ichigo, a dark aura covering them both. "What might have happened here?"

Urahara Kisuke's voice was calm, but the calm before a storm. Ichigo's back was sweating in fear of what the ex captain of the 12th division might do to him later. The scientist was evil and Ichigo wouldn't put it past him to try and turn him into a chicken '_accidentally_'.

Ichigo was about to duck away from their glares but stopped in his tracks. There was a pool of blood around Suzuname Kurami that he was sure wasn't there in the first place.

"Shit." He had forgotten about the wound on her back from Urahara's sword. He carefully rolled her over, grateful that she was out cold at the moment.

The wound was hideous and he knew it would scar. Urahara bent down next to the bleeding girl, ignoring the protests of his employees, and pulled on the ruined fabric to see the wound better.

What he saw made his eyes narrow. The blonde haired ex-shinigami quickly and smoothly covered up the sight.

With his signature fan back in place, he decided to get to work.

"Kurosaki kun, could you please sit her up?" His voice was cheerful and flirty, holding an undertone of mischievousness that immediately put the substitute shinigami on guard.

_What are you planning? _Ichigo thought suspiciously but did as the shopkeeper asked. He might be evil, but he usually did the right thing. Usually…

He was now holding the girl by her shoulders as Urahara called Jinta and Ururu to him and whispered something in their ears.

"Yes boss!" Jinta replied to the mysterious request. That kid and Ururu were complete opposites, but they got on so well. It was kind of a miracle.

"Now, Kurosaki kun. I want you to hold on _just_ like that." Urahara said, turning to the teen as Jinta passed some scissors into the shopkeeper's outstretched hand.

"Wha-?" Before Ichigo could finish, Urahara took the scissors and cut her furisode, from the collar down to where there was a giant rip in the fabric.

Ichigo turned a beet red and tried desperately to keep the front of the furisode on her body so she didn't flash anyone.

"_What the hell are you doing!?" _Ichigo cried.

"Kurosaki kun, we know you are a growing boy and want to experience these things, but now is not the time." He said while watching Ichigo fumble with the unconscious girl, a furious blush on his usually emotionless face.

"_What are you talking about!?_"

Urahara chuckled mischievously from behind his fan. The substitute shinigami was so innocent for his age.

As soon as Urahara finally looked at the girl's ruined back, he grew silent. The fabric had fallen away to reveal…scars. There were dozens of scars.

Pale silver lines crisscrossed her back in some form of grotesque artwork highlighted by the blood. Urahara felt the coldness flood into him, his eyes narrowed dangerously as he viewed her scarred torso. This whole girl's existence seemed to revolve around pain. Would she ever be free of it?

Ichigo's aura shifted scarily as soon as he spied her back. The anger was rolling off of him in waves. It felt like hot coals in the middle of his chest. _Who would _dare _do something like that to her!?_ _If I ever meet them, I will _KILL _them. _He scowled darkly.

The atmosphere in the room had become extremely tense.

"Tessai."

"Yes, boss." The light green glow of a healing kido enveloped her back and, albeit slowly, the blood began to stop. That was probably the best they could do at the moment. Kurami had lost a fair amount of blood but she'd probably be fine.

Urahara quickly ushered everyone out of the room and shut the doors behind him as Ururu bandaged Suzuname Kurami and changed her clothes. Well-shut one door behind him…propped the other one up on the opening.

Where Urahara got the clothes Ichigo didn't know. Maybe he just happened to have them. Maybe they were for Youruichi. Maybe… he liked to cross-dress in his spare time.

Ichigo eyed the shopkeeper suspiciously while the man just raised an eyebrow at Kurosaki's usual behavior; on second thought, it was usually a scowl…

When they were finally let in, Ichigo discreetly rushed to the girl's side and stayed there, watching the girl worriedly.

He would be there all night.

* * *

**With Suzuname Kurami, in her dreams**

There was black everywhere, she couldn't see a thing but she felt everything. All the terror, all the pain and all the sadness. It left her crawling, clawing for some form of light, something that she could cling to so that she could return to reality.

Her biggest fear was never finding a way out of this living hellhole. This prison her mind appeared when her chains were broken, and her inner, hidden self was released. Her more caring side was thrown behind the bars previously inhabited by her bloodthirsty twin, and forgotten. That was how it worked in her messed up world.

When that happened, she was still _herself_, just…twisted. She knew every single horrible thing she did and said. It was like guilt had stuck a knife into her and twisted.

She felt like she was an exhibit in some sort of circus and the voices were from jeering visitors but instead of insults, they were shouting bloody murder.

Right now, the voices were louder, more oppressing. They wanted control and they wanted death. They wanted to erase the pain. But…so did she. Maybe that was why they could take control, their goals weren't really different.

A strange song flooded around her. It was eerie and beautiful. The notes held feelings of sadness and...love. She had been fruitlessly searching for an anchor to lead her back to the surface. Something that could lead her out of the maze she had been lost in and this was it.

She hummed along instinctively to this familiar song. This song brought back painful memories she would rather forget. Her heart ached but she couldn't stop herself from being enveloped in this alluring melody.

As if on cue, the area around her started to glow, making her squint and shield her eyes.

She emerged to a familiar sight of a large body of water with a single tree.

The tree was black. All the normally beautiful, multicolored jewels had turned to obsidian, dark and terrifying. What had happened?

A little ways away from the tree was a singular figure, hunched on the ground, her kimono pooling around her.

The girl didn't know she was running until she skidded to a halt beside her zanpakutou. The beautiful woman had her face in her hands and was silently shaking. When she finally looked up, the relief was evident in her face.

**You're back! **

"Yeah, I am. " Kurami said, smiling weakly.

**Y-you were just…gone. After Urahara knocked you out, y-you just d-disappeared. I couldn't f-find you anywhere! **

Tenshi was sobbing slightly, Kurami knelt down next to her friend. After Urahara knocked her out… She remembered all the horrible things she had one to them. But…what really stuck to her memory was what Kurosaki Ichigo had said, "_I am _not_ losing. It wouldn't be wrong to say I don't know you but there's no way in hell I'm losing when you're like this. You want to protect the people so bad that you'd isolate yourself? Fine, but you won't be able to stay alone forever, rather, I won't let you. I _will_ beat you, and then I'm going to save you."_

It seemed too good to be true, she didn't want to hope, only to have it all have been a lie. What if…he couldn't stop her, if he wasn't _enough? _ She knew she didn't deserve someone as loyal as Ichigo. She didn't deserve someone looking out for her and she sure as hell didn't deserve any friends.

She didn't want anyone elses' blood on her hands.

Tenshi watched as her friend stared off into nothing. Tears were falling silently, creating ripples in the otherwise still water. She knew her best friend couldn't forget what she had done whenever she had snapped. The first time she did…well…she wasn't herself for a decade.

"Eh…? Why…?" The poor girl was wiping them away, smiling confusedly. Her lower lip began to tremble. _This Ichigo might be a curse…or a blessing. _Tenshi just hoped it was the latter.

_If only he could save her. Maybe…she could finally be free. _The thought genuinely warmed the Zanpakutou's heart.

When the girl finally broke down, it was all she could do to pull the girl into her embrace. Even if there was no one else out there, she would always be right by the side of the tormented girl. Tenshi was the one sole surety in the shinigami's life.

They stayed there for a while, unmoving from their positions. Until Tenshi knew it was time to let go.

**You should go back now; you've been away for long enough. **

Her voice was kind, urging her to go back. You could always run away and hide, but sooner or later, you're going to get caught.

* * *

**Back in reality with Kurami at the Urahara shop **

Suzuname Kurami cracked open her eyes to see…a large man with a mustache and weird hair bending over her, their noses nearly touching.

"AHHHH! HOLY SHIT!" She said, sitting up straight and scurrying into the corner opposite the man. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

Kurami glared at him, feeling very much violated.

"Urahara san told me to watch you."

"Then watch! That was _not_ watching, that was..." She paused, not exactly knowing what that was. " When he tells you to watch, watch from across the room or something…that was _too close!" _

The door was flung open. "~Good Mooorrning, Suzuname san! ~" Urahara sang from the opening, smiling slightly at her look of horror. She spotted Kurosaki sitting behind the man looking very sleepy with a cup of tea in his hands.

He was also glaring daggers at Tessai. She noticed he was wearing a polo shirt with the number 15 on it, it seems he actually returned to his body. She immediately felt guilty but amazed, she had never met anyone to separate their soul from their body before, but then again, she hadn't seen much of anything other than soul society. Not that she could remember, anyways.

"Breakfast is ready." He scowled. " You were lucky he wasn't _in _the bed."

The raven-haired shinigami walked into the room and sat down by the table. She was extremely curious as to what Kurosaki had meant.

The teen didn't seem to want to answer her, shivering uncontrollably instead. She had to stifle a laugh.

The boy looked at her, surprised and she cocked her head, smiling at his expression.

* * *

**After the meal**

"Well, I have some work to do, why don't you accompany me, Suzuname san?"

"Sure…and just Kurami is fine, Suzuname san makes me sound old."

The man smiled, "Well then, Kurami chan, Kurosaki kun, please follow me."

The man got up, a fan in one hand, his cane in the other, and started walking.

The two didn't have a choice but to follow. _Her wounds don't seem to bother her at all; does she even know it's there? _Ichigo wondered. _She seems so different now._

Kurami had just noticed her clothes and the stiffness.

"Is this a…Gigai?"

"Why yes. I took the liberty of making you one."

She was wearing a black sleeveless kimono-like top with white lining and loose pants that came in at the ankles. A white leather obi belt encircled her waist and black flats completed the look. It reminded her of what Soi Fong Taicho would wear, except the top actually covered her back.

She felt so…different.

"I guessed you liked black clothes." The girl muttered her thanks as he handed something to her. "Your soul candy."

This was all a weird experience to her. She had never really…been in this situation before. What confused her even more was that the two men were being so nice to her. She had nearly _killed _them. Why…? Was what Ichigo said actually true?

She was jostled out of her thoughts by a hand slapping her in the back of her head.

"What was that for!?"

"Pay attention."

Ichigo kept walking. They were in the basement now, She hadn't even noticed! A demonic look crossed her features and she ran after the boy.

Ichigo yelped in surprise as a small _thing _latched itself onto his back, growling.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Urahara looked back to see an orange haired teen with flailing limbs trying desperately to get a small, black headed demon off his back. She had her legs latched firmly around his waist and was growling with her arms around his head, covering his eyes.

Urahara was speechless.

It took a while to get her under control but when the girl had finally calmed down, they made their way towards a square made out of bits of paper stuck to it.

"Did you just want to show us your paper Mache project?" Ichigo snickered. The girl was surprisingly funny. "You're less mature than I thought."

"Says the talking backpack." Ichigo couldn't help himself. This earned him a thump on his head. The girl was still on his back, but now her arms were on top of his head, with her chin resting on it. Kind of like when you're having dinner, then you get bored, so you rest your head on the table.

"You planning on staying up there forever?"

"Mhhm. It's comfortable. You're head's so empty, it feels like a cushion."

A vein popped on his forehead. "Why you—"

"It might be time you get off. Ichigo here is leaving, and we'd hate to interrupt your vacation time." Urahara called from next to the giant picture frame.

"Leaving? Where?"

"Seireitei." Ichigo answered. "I think it's time for my annual visit."

Kurami climbed down. She looked up at him with big, wide eyes. She was genuinely sad. The teen put his hand on top of her head, ruffling it a bit. He was a bit surprised at himself, this girl almost killed him yet she had become attached to him? He himself had mixed feeling about leaving her alone.

"I'll be back, don't worry."

"All right then!" Urahara was sounding a little _too _cheerful.

"ICHIGO!"

Renji was running towards them, panting hard. Rukia was very close behind him, trying to act cool.

Kurami's eyes were wide. She backed away, moving right in front of Urahara's version of the Senkaimon.

Ichigo followed her, discreetly protecting her from the scary 6th division lieutenant who honestly reminded him of a charging elephant when he was running at them like that.

"Yo, Renji."

The red haired man happened to trip on a small pebble and flew headfirst into Ichigo who in turn fell backwards into Kurami.

Her eyes widened as the two fell into the square, which was now partially glowing, and disappeared.

Renji gaped from his position on the ground.

Urahara was glaring at him, his eyes shadowed. Killing intent radiated off of him that put Kenpachi's to shame. He smiled like Satan as he viewed the scene.

"Abarai san, Who gave you permission to enter?"

"N-no one did? More importantly, Where'd Ichigo and that Suzuname san lady go?"

"The Senkaimon wasn't finished... Kurosaki kun and Kurami chan could be anywhere now." Renji gulped and Rukia punched the back of his head violently. What had happened hadn't quite registered yet. "I need to get to work."

The man quickly left, strangely calm in the face of such a crisis.

"Ichigo's…Gone…?"

* * *

**Sorry for the horrible ending guys! The next chapter will be better. Pinky promise! **

**About pairings, I was thinking about doing IchigoxOc, Natsuxlucy and the usual fairy tail pairings? If that's not enough, I could do ichigoxMira too... **

**Thank you to Debz! you're awesome and i'll try my best.**

**Please review, advice is always appreciated! See you next week! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the last chapter, it was probably because the majority of that was written with carsickness. Actually, I'm not sorry, I'm kind of proud that I managed to make sense at all.**

**I do not own bleach, or fairy tail. I wish I did, but I don't so I just have to suck it up and be happy just owning my awesome OC. **

* * *

**With Kurami and Ichigo, god knows where**

Kurami landed on her back, her breath knocked out of her. What the hell had happened? Before she could find out, a large object flattened her to the table. She was completely winded.

"Get…OFF!" The girl's punch caught Ichigo on his jaw and sent him flying across the room.

The other occupants of the large room gaped. Where did these people come from?

A man with dark blue hair, tanned skin and a necklace with a large 'S' on it whistled from a nearby table. "That was quite a punch, for her size."

The others around his table who heard him agreed.

Kurami stalked after the orange haired teen, completely oblivious to her surroundings. She was way too pissed to be thinking about where they had ended up.

Her long, dark hair swished behind her, highlighting her dark features and pale skin. She looked like she had come out of a black and white photo.

Except…she was red faced with anger.

A certain blonde mage was slouched over with her eyes wide. Her jaw had dropped when the girl who looked so innocent had punched the tall, orange haired man across the room.

She had wanted to go and say hi…but now, not so much. She might just _die._

Why are the strong ones always the people you least expect?

Ichigo was on the ground, a red lump forming on his sore jaw. Kurami put her foot on his head, crossing her arms.

"What the hell do you _eat?_" She half screamed. "Why are you so fucking _heavy!?_"

"That coming from _you!?"_ Ichigo was also very pissed.

It wasn't his fault he landed on her. All he remembered before falling was getting thrown into the portal by Renji. He had landed on something soft and heard an 'oooff' under him…then a fist connected to his jaw and he landed across the room.

That was right! They had fallen through the portal, where had they ended up? Fear gripped him with it's vice claw and forced him to to look for clues to get back but before he could, he noticed the dark aura coming off of his companion.

"What did you just say?" Her voice was quiet now, barely more than a whisper. Her eyes were shaded and the air around her was laced with killing intent.

Ichigo had realized too late that he had made a huge mistake. You _never_ admit that a girl is heavy…ever. You can't even subtly imply it.

She picked him up by his collar, smiling evilly and drew her fist back, aiming to break his nose. She would _make _him fly through the wall.

A cough interrupted her before she could do so and the duo turned around and finally took note of their surroundings.

They froze.

They were in some sort of hall that was furnished with over a dozen wooden tables. The hall had two floors, the upper one that appeared to be empty, and the lower, more spacious one equipped with a bar. The appearance was so westernized; it shocked Kurami to the core.

She had never seen anything like it before. Where...where were they? Kurami felt like hyperventilating. She forced herself to take slow, deep breaths, looking around for clues about where they could have ended up. Damn it, why did she have to go hide behind Ichigo when lieutenant Abarai Renji had shown up?

The hall was full of people, all sitting or standing around the various tables that dotted the place. _They _had never seen anything like _her _before.

They were all staring at the two shinigami, mouths slightly agape. After all, it wasn't every day random people fall from glowing holes in the was true that this was a home to many, many strange people but...c'mon, who wouldn't be surprised?

The girl dropped Ichigo who landed flat on the floor again. She was being pretty rough. Kurami located the most normal looking person in the room and causally walked over Ichigo like a doormat towards the blonde teen about his age.

"Hi, could you please tell us where we are?" Kurami smiled angelically. The blonde haired girl laughed nervously, she just saw this stranger beat someone up, now she was smiling like nothing had happened.

It seems that everyone in her life was in some way violent and more than a little crazy.

The blonde girl, being the nice person she is, answered cheerfully, giving a smile of her own, " We're in the Fairy tail guildhall!"

She was expecting looks of awe or disgust, _some _form of recognition, not the blank look the raven-haired girl currently possessed.

"Fairy tail…i-in Magnolia?" She had dropped her smile, watching the mysterious stranger with confusion. "Have you heard of…Fiore?"

Fiore? Fairy tail? Magnolia? Where did they end up? Kurami had never heard of these places before. It was making her head spin.

"Oh is that where we are? Perfect! That's exactly where we wanted to be!" Kurami's smile was back full force. She used her lying and acting capabilities to the fullest extent, hoping that they wouldn't see through her façade.

She was used to pulling on acts when she was confused or upset, it was what kept her alive. She just hoped the years of practice would pay off again this time.

The guild was silent and for a moment, her eyes flickered with something Lucy couldn't read but he decided to let it go at the exciting prospect of new guild members.

"Are you guys, perhaps joining our guild?" The excitement in her voice was as plain as day.

The 'guild' resumed their chatter and a pink haired teen came to stand beside the blond girl who had spoken. A huge grin had lit up his face as Ichigo came up beside Kurami, who was at a loss for words.

He had _pink _hair; Ichigo would fit right in with his orange head. Kurami could feel laughter building up but it was overshadowed by the fear and confusion that punched her every time she tried to think about where they had ended up.

_Tenshi, what do I do?_

**_Just go along with it, you'll find out more information from them than you would alone. Plus, you don't know how dangerous these people are._**

"…Yes?" Kurami said aloud, following her zanpakutou's advice. She had no idea where they ended up, since it was one of the notorious Urahara Kisuke's inventions, they might as well be in another dimension entirely. Worry etched itself into her heart as she turned to smile at the girl.

"Awesome! I'm—"

"I'm Natsu and this is Happy." The pink haired teen cut the girl off, "she's Luigi."

"It's _Lucy, _Lu-cy. How many times are you gonna get it wrong!?" The Blondie corrected, gritting her teeth.

Meanwhile, Kurami was busy staring at the blue _flying _cat. Was that _normal_ here!? She was definitely not in the world of the living, nor was she anywhere _near_ soul society.

"You look strong, Fight me!" Natsu said to Ichigo, completely ignoring the angry teen beside him. Ichigo looked at him incredulously.

Lucy stomped off towards the bar, grabbing an extremely confused raven-haired shinigami as she did so.

"Mira!" Lucy called out to the white haired girl, "It's a new member!"

"Come right over here!"

Kurami looked back to see another man join Natsu and Ichigo but he was only in his…boxers. Her eyes widened and a furious blush crept up her face.

"HOLY SHIT, PUT ON SOME CLOTHES YOU PERVERT!" She screamed, covering her eyes as best as she could.

The entire guild laughed as the man frowned then looked down, "Crap, where did my clothes go!?"

Kurami couldn't believe it, how could he not notice he had taken his _clothes_ off? He had stopped hunting for his clothes and was butting heads with Natsu. It looked like they didn't like each other very much.

"They look like they get along." She said, rolling her eyes, "The bestest of friends."

Lucy bit back a laugh, snorting at the attempt. This girl didn't look like someone who could be sarcastic.

"Yeah, Natsu and Gray don't get along, Maybe it's the whole 'fire and ice don't mix' thing." Lucy explained.

"'Fire and ice'? What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know, Natsu is the Fire dragon slayer and Gray is an Ice mage."

"Mage?" Kurami echoed, her head was spinning, what the hell is a _dragon slayer_, and a _mage_?

The shinigami silently beckoned the substitute with her eyes, hoping he got the message. Apparently he did because a second later, he was right beside her, bringing the bickering duo along with him.

"You don't know what a _mage _is?" Lucy said quietly, turning to the girl.

Kurami was going through every possible scenario she could use with the limited information she had. She needed a believable lie. An idea lit up in her head, she silently prayed she could play the part well enough.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't think I'd have to tell you." Lucy was frowning at the girl who put on her best 'distressed' face. " I don't have any memories of my past. W-When I woke up, I-I only had a nagging feeling that I had to get to fairy tail somehow. I don't even know my _name_." At this, Kurami burst into tears, sobbing so realistically that _Ichigo _almost believed it to be true.

"You can't remember _anything?"_

Kurami shook her head, crying harder. Any believable lie held elements of truth, what was true then was the feeling of anguish. The girl needed to let out her stress and this way, she could do it without Ichigo confusing it for weakness.

Lucy tried her best to comfort the crying girl, looking more than a little panicked. "It's okay, we'll help you get your memories back, I promise! Just stop crying okay?"

The girl's sobs lessened, but they were still heartbreaking to hear. She looked up at Ichigo with a grief-stricken face and all the male guild members' eyes bulged out of their heads. She was so _cute!_

There was no warning before she launched herself at Ichigo and buried her face into his torso. He stood still for a moment before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her up so her face was hidden in the crook of his neck.

His heart was beating fast. This girl…she felt strangely comfortable and…familiar. It felt so natural to hold her this way.

The girls in the room who had taken an interest in the handsome substitute shinigami discreetly shot Kurami dirty looks while the men in the room outright glared at the man.

Ichigo could feel the warm tears running down his neck and scowled. How could she be such a good actress? Where did she learn to lie so well that even the people who knew the truth would believe her?

Did that mean that he shouldn't trust her? No, he would trust her, she couldn't fake that much raw pain no matter how good of an actress she was. Ichigo knew firsthand that it was impossible to carry all the pain in the world alone, but this girl was doing a pretty fine job.

"What are we gonna do?" She whispered in his ear. "I'm panicking."

"Just go along with it. You're doing fine."

"Decide now, do you want to keep your name, or let them pick?"

"What do you mean?" He hissed back. "Of course I want to keep my name."

"Fine, your choice."

She gave a quiet sob and pushed away from him, nodding as if in understanding. Ichigo suddenly felt disappointed. Why did he want her to hug him again? At least he knew she wasn't the only one who was baffled by what was going on.

Kurami turned back and gave a small, weak smile that made Lucy want to hug the girl _herself_.

"Ichigo was luckier than me, when he woke up, he could still remember his name."

She smiled at the boy warmly. Kurami wasn't faking this emotion, her feelings were genuine but the teen would never know that, she wouldn't let him.

"For now, why don't you guys join our guild?" Lucy was trying to lighten up the mood and it seemed to be working.

"Could we?" The girl looked so hopeful at the thought of joining the guild but in truth, she was thinking about how the well guild members were buying this lie.

"Sure thing, you _can_ do magic, right?"

_M-magic...? __What the hell?_

"We did learn a few things about ourselves these past weeks." Ichigo said smoothly, smirking. He was an adept liar himself.

"Great! Let's get these two stamped!" Mira said, excitedly. She always loved having new guild members, Lucy was new herself but she's already proven herself to be a part of the fairy tail family.

Kurami had wanted to get hers on her back left shoulder, but that would have been too difficult therefore she settled for her upper left arm instead. Her mark was black. _It really does signify the name _fairy tail _well. _It was an unusual name, in her eyes.

The mark reminded her that she still had her limiter on, what would happen once she released it for the first time in this world? Would it be dangerous? She felt something akin to reishi here but it still felt...off. It wasn't dangerous though, it would work as a replacement for the reishi that was in the air in both the worlds she had thought to be the only existing ones. Not including Hueco mundo of course.

She knew Ichigo didn't have a limiter on since he was leaking reiatsu everywhere. It struck her that he had the same, if not more, reiatsu than a captain in the gotei 13. Probably more reiatsu than she had.

Lucy pulled her aside to talk but Kurami had drowned her out and was watching Ichigo from the corner of her eye. He had gotten a red tattoo on his back, between his shoulder blades.

She smiled fondly at him but then noticed a hand was waving in front of her face.

"Hmm?"

"We need to give you a name, I don't know what to call you!" Lucy said thoughtfully. "What about Nicole?"

"No." Kurami looked horrified at that suggestion, what kind of name _was _that?

"Leila? Nikki, Jane, pan."

"Pan, like _bread!?_"

Natsu and Ichigo and the pervert had walked towards them, Ichigo smirking at Kurami. He had probably heard her name suggestions.

"So can you tell me about the guild, and what we do?" Ichigo said, saving her from hearing more abominable name suggestions.

"Oh yeah! Well, we basically accept job requests for money, after we've joined a guild of course," Lucy explained. " I just remembered...I might not make my rent this month!"

She ran towards the giant wooden panel labeled as the request board, muttering about how it was a waste to turn down 2 million jewels.

Mira had joined the group, casually sliding into the conversation. "We get all sorts of requests. The most difficult ones are labelled S-Class but they're only for the S-class mages. They're all currently away."

"Are they really strong?"

"Yes..."She followed Kurami who had walked after Lucy, curious as to what kind of requests were given to mages.

Ichigo sat down on the nearest table with Gray and watched Kurami and Lucy look through the requests on the board.

He couldn't deny that he also wanted to know about the jobs that mages get but he thought it might be more important to familiarize himself with the members of the guild. It might give hi a higher chance of survival in this messed up world.

Lucy had said that they accepted job requests; Mira said there were a few difficult ones, the S-class mages were the ones who completed those. Maybe those mages could help them find a way back to the world of the living.

He had not doubt that Urahara Kisuke would be searching for a way to get them back, too.

"Hey newbie." A woman had spoken. She was dressed in a very small blue top that seemed more like a swimsuit than an actual piece of clothing and brown pants. On her wrists were several bracelets and a black band lined with silver encircled her arms. Her black guild mark was on the left side of her waist.

Ichigo raised his eyebrows at her, uninterested but then did a double take. She was holding an entire beer barrel and was guzzling it down like it was fresh water after a week in the Sahara desert. Man, that woman could drink. A bout of fresh anxiety hit him, hard and he scowled, trying to push it out of his mind. There was nothing he could do about it right now, they would find a way to get back eventually.

"What type of magic do you use?"

The question caught the substitute shinigami off guard. What was he going to say? _Wait…Kurami's story was that we had amnesia. It means that we don't have to know anything. _

"I don't really know what it's called. Then again, I don't know a lot of things anymore…" He trailed off, hoping his lie sounded believable enough.

"Des—" The woman who rivaled Matsumoto in alcoholic-ness was interrupted by an orange haired man in a green jacket screaming and running away from Lucy.

Ichigo turned around to look at what was causing all the commotion and was greeted by the sight of Natsu barreling into Lucy, knocking her onto the floor. She lay there, squashed flat by Natsu's bulk.

Gray was standing a little ways away having evidently punched Natsu into Lucy however had stripped again. Kurami took one look at his almost naked body and squealed, punching him hard.

He landed on someone's table on the other side of the hall. The guild members laughed nervously at her display of strength, it was the second time today that she had punched a man across the guildhall.

Natsu, who had been flaming from anger, dispelled his fiery aura and walked up to the raven-haired girl, slapping her on the back joyfully.

"Gray, you were beaten by a midget!" He called across the spacious hall towards a recovering ice mage.

Ichigo, sensing his friend's sudden spike in reiatsu, made his way over just in time to catch her fist that was aimed towards an unassuming dragon slayer.

He pinned her to the floor, and arm behind her back and ignored the inquisitive glances from the Fairy Tail members.

"That's enough violence for today." He said decisively, leaving no room for argument. " I think we're going to have to set some ground rules. No fighting anyone from fairy tail unless I you have my permission, no releasing bankai, or shikai. No releasing your limiter, yes I know it's there. You are to listen to me and do whatever I say. If you're good, we can spar whenever you want, got it? We both want to know what's going on but I'd rather you not take out your anger on these people."

After a muffled yes from the girl, he let her go, eyeing her warily. Kurami merely rubbed her sore shoulder before turning away, sensing something was about to happen.

Sure enough, the next second, the door burst open and all the chatter in the hall dwindled.

"We're in trouble! Erza's back!" The man who had run screaming form Lucy before had returned, bringing news that the guild members were obviously dreading.

They were all frozen in panic, leaving Kurami and Ichigo to wonder who this Erza was and how terrifying she had to be to scare almost everyone in the guild they had just joined.

"Erza san, the one Natsu mentioned before?" Kurami, who was standing next to Lucy tuned into the mage's conversation.

"I think you could say she's the strongest female mage in fairy tail." The shinigami gave a look of shock at Mira's words and turned to face the door like every other mage in the room.

Would she be as strong as Kenpachi and as scary as Unohana Taicho? No, not a single person alive _or dead_ could be as scary as that woman when she wanted to be.

"It's Erza."

"Those are her footsteps."

"She's back."

Murmurs echoed around the room as heavy footsteps neared the door.

"That reaction—" Lucy started.

"Erza must be an amazing mage." Kurami finished, smiling eagerly, she might be able to help!

"Scary!" Lucy gave out a strangled cry.

A woman walked into the hall. She had beautiful red hair that flowed past her waist and was dressed in armor, a blue skirt and brown boots. Her armor had intricate designs but what caught her eye was the giant _horn_ she was carrying. It was decorated with jewels around the bottom.

"I'm back." She said. Her voice could only be described as strong. In fact, her whole being radiated strength. "Is master here?"

"She's beautiful!" Kurami heard Lucy utter, stunned.

"Welcome back, Master is at the regular meeting." Mira answered. She was completely calm.

"I see." She was noticeably a natural leader, and used to it.

"Erza san, what is that huge thing?" One of the men in the guild had the courage to ask her.

Kurami and Ichigo stood side by side. They were not worried, in fact they seemed quite relaxed.

Erza was quite intimidating, but so were the strange duo.

"The horn of a monster I slew." She answered calmly. " The villagers decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir."

She turned to face them fully, "Is it a problem?"

"Absolutely not!" The men squeaked, frightened out of their minds.

From somewhere close to where Kurami was standing, she heard the alcoholic say, "Maybe she knows about the Mt. Hakobe incident."

A loud heartbeat distracted her from the words but he raised her eyes nevertheless at the spooked man the words were directed to.

He was sweating profoundly, nervous as anyone could be.

"S-shit. I might get killed." The dark blue haired man said.

"She doesn't look like I imagined." Lucy declared from next to the shinigami, still infatuated with the red haired mage.

"What did you think she would look like?" I muttered to the blonde under my breath.

"I thought she'd be…bigger."

"You guys!" Erza's voice roared through the room. The members she had called out to visibly stilled. " I heard some rumors while traveling about Fairy Tail causing trouble again. Even if the master forgave you, I will not."

"Kana in what matter do you drink?" The alcoholic stiffened, lifting the barrel of beer away from her face.

"Bigitar, Do your dance outside." The man in the black unitard coiled back from the mage's sharp words.

"Wakaba, you're scattering the ashes." The man with the pipe in his mouth jumped.

"Nabu, are you just wandering in front of the request board, as always?" The man recoiled, scared. "Do a job."

"Macao." The blue haired man who had been nervously sweating for quite a while now took a step back, gulping. Erza just looked away and sighed.

"Say something!" He cried, his voice shaking along with his limbs.

"Really, you guys are helpless." She murmured to herself, putting a hand on her head in a tired fashion. "I won't say anything for today."

_You've already said a lot of things._ Lucy thought. She was also sweating but looked more quizzical.

"Is she from the disciplinary committee or something?" Lucy whispered behind her hand towards Kurami and Mira.

"That'd be Erza." Happy said. Kurami nodded but then did a double take. The cat _talked._ It was like her perfect dream.

"She has a sharp tongue but looks like a normal person."

"Yes, normal people walk around in armor." Kurami nodded, sarcastic, but then turned serious. "I don't think you have to be that scared."

Erza turned her piercing brown eyes that matched Ichigo's towards the usually bickering duo. "Are Natsu and Gray here?"

"Aye!" exclaimed Happy.

"H-Hi Erza, we're getting along as always." They had their arms around each others necks and were shaking hands affectionately. Kurami and Ichigo shared a look, something impossible just happened.

"Aye!" Natsu said, making a perfect imitation of Happy.

"Natsu just sounded like happy!" Lucy looked dumbfounded.

Ichigo slipped Kurami some bills from his wallet, though the action did not pass Lucy by. "You win the bet."

"Huh? When did you guys make a bet!?" She shouted, though not loud enough for Erza or the boys to hear.

Natsu and Gray were obviously finding it hard to act like friends for so long but their fear of the bossy woman kept them going.

"I see. Close friends may fight sometimes but I like to see you guys are getting along well." Erza crossed her arms, smiling at the two sweating boys.

"We're not that close." Gray muttered. Ichigo snorted. Natsu just 'aye'd'. Lucy said something about never seeing Natsu like this before. Kurami smiled, thoroughly amused.

"Natsu once challenged Erza to a duel but got beaten up," Mira explained, illustrating it with the light pen. Lucy was stunned.

"She found Gray walking around naked and beat him up." Macao said, smirking slightly. Cana was sitting close by, resting her chin on her palm, watching the whole exchange with an expression similar to Kurami's.

"Loki tried to charm her and got beaten up too." Cana's voice was slightly bored. Lucy quietly thought in her head that the orange haired womanizer got what he deserved.

Erza turned towards the two shinigami and Lucy. "Are you new members?"

Not missing a beat, Kurami ran up to her and embraced the red haired mage. The woman looked stunned but after a while she decided to return the greeting. Kurami wanted the supposedly strong mage to help them, which meant she had to gain her trust.

"Nice to meet you Erza chan!" Kurami turned towards Natsu and Gray, narrowing her eyes mischievously. "I have a feeling we're going to get along very well."

The woman smiled at her new friend and nodded at the two shocked newbies behind her. All the men in the room froze in fear. They had already seen what the gorgeous raven-haired teen could do. The two would probably be the death of them.

"Natsu, Gray. I want to ask you something." Erza said, looking deadly serious. "I heard some troublesome rumors during my last job. Normally, I would wait for master's decision but…I decided that it's better to settle this early. I want you two to help me out. Will you come with me?"

The two male mages turned to each other in shock. All around the room, mages were muttering to each other, not entirely believing the woman's words. She had asked for help?

"We're leaving tomorrow, so be ready for it." The two mages were glaring at each other suspiciously, not quite listening to Erza's command.

"Erza, Natsu, Gray. I never would have imagined it." Mira said looking thoughtful." But this might be the strongest team in Fairy Tail."

Lucy looked at the three in awe.

**Later, at Lucy's place**

"Finally, we can be alone."

"You do realize what that sounds like right?"

"What!? N-n-n-Ichigo!"

"You were asking for it."

"Hrrmph, be serious for a second. Do you think Erza could help get us...back?" Kurami's voice cracked.

"I want to see exactly how powerful she is." Ichigo sounded thoughtful. "We should probably stick with her, they were going on some sort of mission tomorrow, right? It's a great chance to see what she can do."

"mm, they mentioned magic earlier, what-?"

"We'll just see, the most important thing is going along with the lie that you told earlier. Our shinigami powers would probably pass for magic here."

"We still have to be careful, we need more information."

"Urahara is undoubtedly trying to find a way to get us back and knowing him, he probably will, we just have to make it as easy as we can by staying in one place without being suspicious."

"I want to go back...I'm pretty sure this doesn't count as a vacation but that old man," She laughed though the sound was empty. "He'd probably count it anyway."

"We'll get back somehow," He said determinedly, "You don't have to worry about it."

"Thanks, Ichigo."

"Goodnight."

Neither of them would fall asleep for quite some time, there were too many thoughts and worries crowding through their of them dominated all the others even though the two tried their best to push it out of their minds; "What if...?"

* * *

**The next day, at Magnolia Station**

Natsu and Gray were locked in a deadly argument, drawing the looks from the other people in the station.

Lucy was sitting close by with the two shinigami, Happy and a spirit introduced as Plue. She seemed to be incredibly unhappy at the two bickering mage's stupidity.

Last night, she had invited the two to stay at her new house, since they had nowhere to go. As soon as they could afford someplace to live, though, they would leave. Ichigo hated freeloading. It was part of why he had decided to go on this mission with the girl.

The night before, Lucy had told them that she was a Celestial spirit mage, she used keys to unlock a gate into the spirit world where she would form a contract with the spirit the key had called forth and use them in combat.

This drew the two shinigami into a deep thought. What if _Lucy _was the key to getting them back home?

"Why are you here?" Happy's voice cut into Lucy's chanting of _I don't know them, I don't know them._

"Because Mira san asked me to stop them from fighting when Erza wasn't there!"

"You're not stopping them." Ichigo said, nudging Kurami lightly from her thoughts.

"But…" Lucy whined.

"Sorry, am I late?" Erza's voice rang out. Natsu and Gray immediately stopped and Lucy's heart soared…until it was shot down.

Erza was carrying a wagon-full of luggage. It was a monstrous amount. Ichigo gaped.

"You know, there's such a thing as too much luggage!" He called out to her.

"Really? I just packed all my necessities." Ichigo shrugged as Kurami bounded towards her new friend.

"Erza chan, Good morning!" Kurami sang happily. Erza looked a little surprised to see the three newbies there but didn't question it. It would be a good opportunity test out Fairy Tail's latest members.

The woman was especially curious about the black haired girl and the orange haired boy. They felt…different, not to mention strong. Just then a thought struck her, she didn't' know this girl's name!

"What is your name?" She asked gently.

Kurami frowned, acting as best as she could. "I don't know what my name is but he's Ichigo."

"Ichigo, like the strawberry?" The woman looked extremely happy, then frowned. "What do you mean?"

Ichigo was fuming, "It means 'one who protects' not strawberry!"

The mage just nodded.

"Oh, it seems these two have amnesia. She doesn't remember her name so we have to find one for her!" Lucy answered. Erza looked at the two, how sad. Nothing was worse than loosing one's identity except maybe loosing a loved one.

"Don't worry," Erza said, ramming the girl's head into her breastplate in an unusual show of affection. " We'll find an amazing name for you."

"What about Nico?" Lucy piped up.

"No!" It seemed she didn't like that name in fact she hated it. What was it with these weird names?

Natsu and Gray were doing some sort of weird dance in the background, acting like best friends.

"Hm, getting along well is the most important thing." Erza said.

She turned towards Lucy, "And you?"

"I'm the newcomer, Lucy! Mira asked me to accompany you!" She said, looking a little shaky. "It's a pleasure to work with you!"

"I'm Erza, it's a pleasure to work with you too." She said smoothly. "I see, so you are Lucy. You are the one who beat up the guerilla mercenary with one finger. I'm grateful you are helping us, I'll be counting on you."

Lucy looked shocked at this comment. Kurami was behind Erza laughing her butt off along with Ichigo who was trying his hardest to keep a straight face.

Natsu, looking idiotically brave called out, "Erza! I'll accompany you but on one demand." Gray looked scared for him.

"What is it?" Erza says, looking back at him.

"When we get back, fight me!"

"Oh yes, please do!" Kurami smiled sadistically.

"Huh!?" Lucy cried, looking panicked.

"Oy, don't be hasty, you wanna die?" Gray asked him.

"It'll be different from before."

"What so you got beat up before?" Ichigo was smirking.

"Now I can defeat you!" Natsu exclaimed eagerly at Erza.

"You definitely have grown" Erza said, smirking, " I don't have any confidence but it's okay. I will accept your challenge."

"All right! I'm getting fired up!" Flames erupted from his head and caused Kurami and Ichigo to jump back, surprised.

"I wanna see him get beat up." Kurami nodded in agreement at Ichigo's statement.

* * *

**Later, on the train**

Natsu was almost passed out on the train from motion sickness. It was pathetically hilarious.

"You're pathetic, looking like this after you've asked for a fight."

"It's normal but he really looks like he's in pain."

"I kind of feel bad for him."

"Not really."

"Yeah, you're right."

"There's no helping it." Erza sighed affectionately. " Come sit next to me."

Natsu 'aye'd' like happy and Lucy moved for him. Natsu was now wedged in between Erza and Kurami, who was sitting next to the window.

"Now relax." Natsu did what he was told and Erza casually punched him in the stomach, causing him to pass out. She lay his head on her lap and kept a hand on his head.

Kurami was silently laughing while Gray and Erza were sweating nervously. Ichigo pretended not to see but was shaking inside too.

"You've relaxed a little now, right?" Erza said.

_M-maybe she's a little bit strange after all!_ Lucy thought.

"Erza, Maybe its time you informed us." Gray looked bored. "What are we supposed to do?"

"It's about a dark guild called Eisenwald." Erza said. " They're planning to do something with a magic called Lullaby."

"Lullaby?!" Gray, Happy and Lucy seemed to know something about that name. Erza's expression darkened at their reaction.

Ichigo allowed himself to drift off into his thoughts. He knew Kurami was listening intently.

She seemed so much more relaxed right now. She's even making friends. Maybe the guild could ease her pain a little bit. He still saw it in her eyes now and then.

He knew that the members of the Fairy Tail guild were good, it seemed like they were a real family, sticking out for one another, supporting each other. It was what they did best, apart from destroying things. He had heard the rumors from the other guild members that Natsu was especially good at wrecking things.

He finally allowed himself to think about Karin and Yuzu back at home. What would they be thinking? It wasn't the first time he had disappeared for a long time but it was still worrying. He missed them.

Kurami pulled him out of his thoughts just in time to catch the name 'Erigor'.

"The ace of the dark guild Eisenwald, he completed many assassination requests and the people call him the shinigami Erigor." Ichigo's eyes widened at the word 'Shinigami'.

Is that what the people here thought shinigami where? Being who killed others and reaped their souls? Ichigo's blood started to boil.

"Naturally, Assassination requests are banned by the council but Eisenwald prioritized money. Because of that, they were banned from the Mage Guild League 6 years ago." Erza continued." But they disobeyed orders and are still out there, continuing their activities."

"Maybe I should go back." Lucy looked like she was about to cry. Ichigo tried not to notice that the seat was wet.

"Your juices are oozing out." Happy commented.

"It's just sweat." Lucy snapped at the cat.

Ichigo jumped at Erza banging her fist on top of Natsu head and winced. "I failed. If I had realized the name Erigor back then, I would have punished them all. I would have made them tell me what they were planning."

Kurami smirked at her expression, her scowl made her look just like Ichigo. Lucy squealed, scared.

"I see. Eisenwald is planning something with that Lullaby." Gray said, turning to Erza, "Anyhow, it's troublesome so you want to stop them."

"That right." She said. "I'm up against a whole guild. I was too anxious to go alone. We're heading straight into Eisenwald."

"Interesting." Kurami said, smiling at the red haired mage. She smiled back.

"This will be fun." Ichigo smirked, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

Lucy sank into her seat, sweating more than ever.

* * *

**Sometime later, in the train**

"Aww, c'mon. Give us a discount." Lucy wined in her most seductive voice. The man narrowed his eyes at her but then looked behind the blonde to spot Kurami. He immediately gave the woman half her money back, his eyes never leaving the unassuming raven-haired girl.

Kurami looked over and smiled making the conductor nearly faint. Lucy was very ill tempered when the man finally left, leaving sandwiches for the group to snack on.

"By the way, what kind of magic do you use, Erza san?" Lucy asked, munching on a sandwich.

"You can call me Erza." She said.

"Erza's magic is beautiful, a lot of blood comes out of her opponent." Happy said cheerfully and Lucy looked sick. Ichigo looked mildly interested while Kurami was smiling lazily.

Erza took a bite out of her strawberry cake. "I think Gray's magic is more beautiful."

"You think so?" The Pervert put his hands together; his right hand forming a fist above his flat left one. Steam poured out of his hands as a blue magic circle formed. When he opened his fist, an ice Fairy Tail mark was sitting on his palm.

It really was beautiful. "So this is what you meant when you said 'Ice mage'?" Kurami asked Lucy. So this is what magic was.

Ichigo was amazed for a second but then realized it was nothing compared to Toshiro's Bankai. _That _kid had serious Ice powers.

"Mmhm. But I've never seen it before either." Kurami couldn't' take her eyes off of the Ice Fairy Tail guild mark but he would be dreaming if it meant she liked him more. He was still a pervert in her eyes.

* * *

**Onibas station **

"Are those Eisenwald guys still here?" Kurami asked.

"I don't know." Erza replied. "We'll find out soon enough."

"I guess you're right."

"It's like searching for a needle in a haystack." Lucy said.

"Huh? Where's Natsu?"

Lucy's eyes widened as she remembered where she had last seen Natsu. The train's whistle blew as it sped out of the station, taking a very motion sick dragon slayer with him.

"It departed." Happy and Kurami said together, a deadpanned expression on their faces. Kurami had found this whole trip quite entertaining, in some ways more than others.

"I was so busy talking that I forgot about him, what have I done?" Her voice was pained, " He has motion sickness! Its all my fault…just…punch me!"

Kurami was about to do so but Ichigo grabbed her by the collar of her top and pulled her away from the grieving mage.

"Now, now." Lucy said, looking at the mage with her are-you-serious look.

* * *

**On the train**

A man walked down the aisle to spot a very motion sick teen with pink hair and a white dragon scale scarf. The Fairy tail insignia was glaring at him in red from the boy's right shoulder marking him as a mage.

"Oh? Fairy Tail?" The man said, leaning casually on the bench that Ichigo, Gray and Lucy had previously occupied. "Are you a mage from a registered guild? I envy you"

"Huh?"

Natsu received a booted foot to the face. "Registered guilds shouldn't get cocky, little fairy. Do you know what we call you? Flies, just Flies."

Natsu was pissed. First this man just shows up out of nowhere, now he had the nerve to mock registered guilds! That was an indirect insult to Fairy Tail. Flames encircled his fist and he stood up.

"Why you—" He was cut off as a bout of motion sickness overcame him, extinguishing his flame.

"Huh? What's with that magic?" The man taunted. "Magic should be…"

A magic circle appeared at his feet and his shadows moved to punch Natsu in the face, making him fly back.

"…Used like that." His shadows abated leaving a smiling mage with a horrible attitude.

"That magic—" Natsu said, realizing something. The man's face contorted into an ugly smile.

Just then, the train's wheels squeaked and stopped. Natsu slid back a few feet while the man pitched forwards. A skull shaped flute flew out of his pocket and landed on the floor.

* * *

**With Erza and the rest, Onibas Station**

Erza stood by a big switch that she had pulled to stop the train that had carried Natsu away.

Kurami was leaning on Ichigo a few feet away trying, and failing, to hide her laughter.

Gray and Lucy looked between Kurami and Erza, deciding which one was more insane.

"Hey, you'll get me in trouble!" The panicked conductor only added to the hilarity of the situation and Kurami doubled over, clutching her stomach. "Don't use the emergency lever by yourself!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. He knew that the girl didn't like Natsu very much for insulting her, but she was laughing a little to hard. He couldn't deny that the situation was funny, but he was a more serious person by nature and he found the need to rescue his comrade quite important.

"It's for our friend, please understand." Erza stated.

"You're pushing it!" The man replied, but did nothing to stop her.

"Please bring our luggage to the hotel."

"Why me?"

"I guess everyone from fairy tail is like that." Lucy said, not even bothering to express her surprise.

"I'm different, though." Gray said.

Kurami turned around to see that Gray had once again stripped.

"DIE, PERVERT!" She cried and kicked him across the station. When she turned around to face Ichigo again, her face was a bright red. Ichigo caught himself smiling at how she was more innocent than _he _was.

* * *

**In the train with Natsu**

"It stopped." Natsu said, stating the obvious as always.

A hideous flute was on the floor a few feet away from him. It was the most horrible brown and was shaped like a tree that morphed into a 3 eyed skull.

Upon seeing the grotesque flute, Natsu exclaimed, "Huh? What's that?"

The man got up slowly; his face was all banged up from the tumble when the train stopped suddenly. "You saw it?"

"Shut up! This is for what you did to me earlier!" Natsu put his fists together and an orange magic circle appeared. There was an intensity in his eyes fire raged around him.

"Guard shadow!" the man cried as Natsu used his Fire dragon's fist to try and attack. Shadows in the form of long, fisted arms came up to block the attack.

The train car exploded from the impact leaving destroyed seats and an open roof.

"Shit, you bastard—" the man said, wiping the dirt off his face.

"High punch!" Natsu said, raising one fist.

A woman's voice floated through from the telecom announcing that the sudden stop was a false alarm and that they would be departing shortly.

"Shit!" Natsu said, panicking and grabbing his luggage. " I'm outta here!"

"Wait, you bastard!" The man said, annoyed. "When you get involved with Eisenwald, it will cost you somehow."

"So you're from Eisenwald?" Natsu said, equally annoyed. " You talked trash about Fairy Tail, let's continue this outside!"

Natsu barfed in his mouth as the train started up again. He managed to jump out of the train window and launch himself straight into Gray who was on the roof since there was no room in the car itself with Kurami and Ichigo in there.

They both fell out of the car and landed on the hard ground, foreheads steaming.

"That hurt, you idiot!" Gray screamed.

"Shut up! How dare you leave me behind?"

Kurami who had sobered up in the past few moments started cackling again. She received a fist to the back of her head. She glared at her assailant.

"Stop laughing for a while." Ichigo said. Though it was cute, she had been laughing for a while now and he was afraid she was going to pull something from laughing so hard. He received a look of thanks from Erza.

"Sorry, but at least you're fine. That's good enough." She rammed Ichigo's head into her breastplate and he spluttered something about it being hard.

"I-I'm not fine at all!" he said, rubbing his sore head. " I fought some weird guy on the train."

"Weird guy?" Lucy said.

"Who could be weirder than you?" Kurami said, not happy with being punched by Ichigo.

"What did you say!?" Natsu shouted, offended.

Before they could get into an argument, Ichigo roared, "Shut up, for now, just tell us what you meant."

"It was the same guy who took the men who tried to eat happy and ran away." He said, turning from the fuming girl and crossing his arms. "He said he was from Eisenwald."

Erza's eyes widened at the name and she slapped him, hard."You idiot! Eisenwald are the people we are after."

Lucy's face was frozen in shock and Gray just looked nervous. Kurami tried to control her insane laughter while Ichigo tried to control Erza.

"He was right before your eyes and you let him go!?" She was furious.

"This is the first time he's hearing about this." Ichigo stood between the angry mage and he clueless dragon slayer, holding his arms out like he was calming a horse instead of a very irritable mage. "You knocked him out, remember?"

She didn't listen to him, opting instead to turn back to the car and clasp a bracelet that connected to the car on.

"He was on that train right? We need to leave immediately!"

The car started as Gray asked, "What was he like?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Natsu looked up, remembering something, "That's right, he had a skull shaped flute. A skull with 3 eyes."

"A skull with 3 eyes?" Lucy squeaked.

"He has bad taste."

"Lucy what's the matter?" Ichigo called, half carrying Kurami who had collapsed in a fit of giggling. She sobered up and wiped her tears at the sight of such a serious expression on the celestial mage's face.

"I know something about that flute." She looked deep in thought. "Lullaby…the song of curse! Death magic."

"What?" Erza called from the car. She had backed up and was ready to go.

"The death song? Like an execration song?" Gray asked.

"I only read it in books, but one of the forbidden spells is the death curse, right?"

"Yes, a dark magic spell that kill the person it is cast upon."

"Lullaby is worse."

* * *

**Kunugi station, at the same time **

"This train belongs to Eisenwald." Erigor said as he the body of the conducter he killed without a second thought fell to the ground in front of him. Screams could be heard from the crowds gathered outside the train.

It was chaos. Erigor ordered everything out of the train, passengers and luggage alike.

"Kill anyone who resists." His bored voice commanded the dark guild like they were his puppets.

He turned at the sound of his name and was met with the welcome sight of the man who had fought Natsu on the train before, "Kageyama."

Kageyama had black hair and was dressed in jeans and a white jacket over a red shirt.

"I heard you'd be coming this train but this amount of destruction, did something happen?"

"I'll tell you later but first…this," He took the skull shaped flute out of his jacket, "I managed to lift the seal somehow."

There were impressed murmurs as the man handed the deadly flute to Erigor.

"So this is the forbidden lullaby." He said, gazing at it affectionately. "This flute was nothing but a tool for death curses at first but the great dark mage Zeref turned it into a demonic flute. A flute that kills anyone who hears it's sound, the terrifying mass-death curse spell, Lullaby!"

* * *

**With Erza and the rest**

"Erza slow down!" Gray called from the roof of the car where he was hanging on for dear life. " Even if it's you, the magic it drains is real!"

"Now is not the time to slow down, a mass death curse spell…" she said. "If Erigor got his hands on that… there's no telling what he'd do!"

The car ran rampant on the dusty track going faster than any car ever should.

Erza had a dark look in her eyes. _That man, what is he planning to do?_

* * *

**With Erigor, on the train**

"It's time to begin our plan!" Erigor announced, a crazed look in his eyes.

* * *

**Alright, so how was that? As usual i ask for reviews. Pretty please?  
**

**Gunzen, Thankyou for reading my last chapter, I hope you like this one better but if you really don't, you don't have to read it :)**

**Cellum95, What do you mean? I don't understand it one bit! **

**Hunter2424, I'll do my best with the pairings but I'm not confident enough to do something like that.  
**

**I really hope you read the next chapter! It will probably be awesome,_ probably_. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait! School has been a bitch this week and last week. It's the middle of term so alot has been going on. I'm really sorry! I hope that the length makes up for it. And i'm uploading this without editing, i'll probably do so sometime during this week so...enjoy!**

**I do not own bleach or fairy tail. **

* * *

**Clover, Guild master's regular meeting**

In a town not so far away from Kunugi was a man. He seemed to be a man, and he sort of looked like a man but he didn't seem to want to act like a man.

This man was Bob, the guild master of Blue Pegasus. He seemed to like cross-dressing…a lot. The sight of him sent shivers down you spine. For the purposes of keeping your sanity, and mine, I will _not _describe him.

"Makarov chan, it's great that you have such energetic mages!" The guild master said. "I heard about it! They've beaten up some powerful guys from somewhere."

The guild masters were in a large hall with stone floors and extremely large windows. There were round tables with white tablecloths dotting the floor.

On one of these many tables was Makarov, who was sitting _on _the table cross-legged chewing on a chicken leg.

Makarov was a very small mage, but he was powerful. He wore a white shirt with the Fairy Tail insignia under an orange Jacket and matching pants. His hat was also orange but decorated with blue stripes and it was shaped like a cap with outwards facing horns.

His aged face shone with pride at the fake rumors. "Yeah, you're talking about the newcomer Lucy, right? She's great; her breasts are springy and bouncy! "

The man was not only powerful, he was also a pervert and the way he talked about the blonde mage made you think he was a pedophile, which he was. He was also very drunk at the moment.

Master Bob let out an exclamation of surprise and turned away, covering his face. The other master who happened to have been talking to the two unusual mages before the topic sprang up sighed in exasperation.

"Oh no, you pervert!" Master Bob yelled, squirming making the drunken master laugh a little harder.

"Is this the right time to be laughing, Makarov?" A man said from a table nearby causing Makarov to turn around.

The man was Goldmine, the master of the guild Quatro Cerberus. He had dirty blonde hair that brushed his shoulders and wore shades. His dark blue t-shirt and black pants were quite normal, which was surprising considering he was wearing a red dog collar with giant spikes and a witch's hat with another red band with spikes circling the base.

"Being energetic is fine and all but they're overdoing it!" Goldmine said with the usual stern look on his face. He whipped his barbecue forwards to point at the small drunk guild master, "I heard that some councilors are worrying about Fairy Tail crushing an entire town someday."

Makarov laughed, looking as if he enjoyed the attention very much. The guild masters in the vicinity all turned to look at him, amused, then bewildered.

"I want to be crushed…by Lucy's body!" He was just a drunk pedophile after all…

"You shouldn't talk about new mages from your own guild like that!" Master Bob said, lightly reprimanding him, looking a little embarrassed.

The sound of bells distracted the gathering of mages and a high voice rang out from above, calling for master Makarov. The voice was coming from a small blue bird in a pointy hat holding a letter in its small talons.

"Master Makarov, Master Makarov, A letter has arrived from Mirajane Sama!" It called out, dropping the letter into the master's open palm. The bird itself wasn't much bigger that Makarov's hand!

"Thanks for the hard work." Makarov said, looking very important.

"You're welcome!" The bird called out as it flew away.

Fairy Tail's guild master flipped the letter over, revealing the golden seal and traced his finger around it, activating the holographic message.

Mirajane popped up, smiling up at Makarov, "Master, thank you for your efforts at the meeting,"

"What do you think?" Makarov said, standing up and pointing to the holographic message of Mira, "This is our pin-up girl! She's cute, right?"

The large gathering of blushing male mages whistled and cheered, finding the always-cheerful woman very attractive.

"Oh my…!"

"Mirajane chan, right? You sure have grown up." Commented Goldmine.

"Actually, Something very wonderful happened while you were gone, Master!" Mirajane said, swinging her hands out to emphasize 'wonderful'. "Surprisingly, Erza, Natsu and Gray formed a team!"

Makarov had gone silent, his mouth wide open and frozen in horror. "I think this is the strongest team in Fairy Tail!"

Mira had continued her news not knowing that the reacting that she had thought the master would have was the complete opposite of the expression that was currently plastered on his face. "I thought I should report this so I wrote a letter!"

"Wha…Wha-Wha…!" The master looked on the verge of collapse. The news had shocked him to the core and he couldn't help but go through all the worse-case-scenarios that were bound to happen sooner of later with this team running around Fiore.

"Oh my…" Master Bob said sympathetically.

"It looks like the councilors anxiety turned out to be justified." At goldmine's words, the master finally fell backwards, eyes wide with shock.

_Oh god, they may _really_ crush an entire town!_ Makarov thought. _The meeting ends today, I will be able to go back tomorrow but…Please don't let anything happen until then, I beg of you!_

* * *

**With Erza and the others at Kunugi station**

All the train's passengers crowded around the small station, complaining and whining to a bunch of soldiers that had stationed themselves around the station.

"A guy with a huge scythe barged aboard all of a sudden, together with his group!"

"I know them! They're rogues from a dark guild that are prowling around this area!"

From the cliff above the station and the crowd of people, Erza, Lucy, Kurami, Ichigo, Gray, Natsu and happy watched and listened to the panicked civilians.

"I can understand hijacking a carriage or a ship but a train…"Lucy said thoughtfully.

"Aye! It can only travel on rails, it doesn't have much merit, right?" Happy piped up.

"But it does have speed." Erza announced from the front of the car.

Natsu was still carsick, his body didn't want to recover yet, it seemed. Ichigo watched him with little interest. "They must've been in a hurry for some reason."

Gray nodded in agreement to his words.

"Why are you naked!?" Lucy called out to him and he jumped, then realized that Kurami was on the top of the car and relaxed, ignoring the blonde girl.

"But now, the military has taken precautions as well." Kurami heard Lucy's voice from on top of the car where she sat brooding over the recent events. "It's only a matter of time until they're caught, right?"

All she wanted to do was to pour all of her energy into finding a way back to seireitei but here she was, saving a world she didn't even belong in! She knew that Ichigo would have gone no matter what, she had heard enough stories about the headstrong substitute shinigami to know that he did whatever he thought was right and always protected his friends to the best of his ability. It was hard not to respect the guy.

"I hope so." Erza voice cut into her thoughts and she gripped the side of the car just in time to stop herself falling off as the car drove away from the station.

* * *

**On the train with Eisenwald**

The blade of a scythe flashed, cutting the chair in half and successfully throwing a black haired man onto the floor of the train, cowering in fear.

Erigor stood over Kageyama, anger highlighting his cruel features. He raised his scythe above his head preparing to chop his subordinate's head off.

"A fly from Fairy Tail saw Lullaby and you let him escape, Kageyama?" His voice was full of malice.

"T-They still don't know our plan." Kageyama pleaded, "Even if they figure it out, no one can stop us, right?"

"Tsk." Erigor said, glowering at the man kneeling on the floor in front of him. The scythe flashed again and the blade pierced itself onto the floor right in front of Kageyama. The man fell backwards, petrified.

"We must be cautious at all times!" Erigor bellowed, "We will initiate _that _plan."

"Then at Oshibana station-" The cowering man started.

"'There are forests where flies shouldn't fly.'" Erigor said darkly as Kageyama stood up, "We will refresh their memories."

The people in the train car cheered halfheartedly out of fear more than excitement. Erigor smirked, he would look forwards to his revenge, it would be sweet.

* * *

**With Mira at Fairy Tail guild hall**

Mirajane strauss suddenly paused in the act of setting down a drink in front of one of her guild mates. Hmm,_ I feel like I forgot to tell Master something. That's right! The new guild members…oh well. We can tell him when he gets back, no harm done. _

* * *

**With Erza and the others **

The car turned sharply, scattering the bunch of people on the cobblestones. The pedestrians barely avoided the car in time and wouldn't stop running until they were safely 50 meters away from the rampaging car.

"Erza, you're driving too fast!" Gray exclaimed from on top of the car. He and Kurami had switched positions after the light girl had nearly flown off from the speed that the red haired mage was driving. "The SE-plug is swelling!"

The woman's scarlet hair whipped in the wind as she drove, "A lot of people will die if they play lullaby. People will die just by listening to it!"

"What will you do if you loose your magical power in a critical condition?" Gray called out, he had to shout to be heard over the sounds of the car, the wind and the screaming pedestrians.

"If that happens I'll fight with a stick or something." Gray didn't miss the smile that appeared on her face. " You and Natsu are also here."

Inside the car, Natsu was suffering from intense carsickness while the rest just watched him, looking a little worried.

"I think I had something to tell you, Lucy" Happy said, thinking hard.

"Me? What is it?"

"I forgot."

Kurami smiled nervously while Ichigo raised an eyebrow. It seemed like the cat had the brain of a fly sometimes.

_Are we really gonna be okay?_ He thought. He had heard the conversation Erza and Gray had, if she really did loose most of her magic power, wouldn't that mean that their fighting power would go down by at least a quarter? He wasn't intending on going into spirit form but he might have to. Would they really be able to tell it wasn't magic? It was definitely worrying the substitute shinigami.

His feelings must have reached Kurami unintentionally because the next second she put her hand in his comfortingly. She had turned around just in time to miss the blush that crept up onto Ichigo's face.

"I'm sure it had something to do with you, Lucy."

"I feel sick." Natsu murmured from the floor of the magic powered car.

"It might be that!" Happy exclaimed.

"Just that!?" Lucy shouted, pissed that it was such a trivial thing.

Natsu pulled himself up to the car window and hauled himself over, trying to jump out of the car. Kurami grabbed onto his foot with one hand while Lucy flapped around in panic.

"Natsu, you'll fall!" She screeched.

"Let me fall!" He said, pleading with the group to just let him go.

"I wonder what it was… If it's not 'Lucy feels sick' Lucy…weird?"

"My hand is slipping."

"What!?"

"Oops. Bye bye, Natsu."

"Fishes are delicious?"

"Don't let him go…"

"Gotcha!"

"Noo! Let me fall!"

"Healthy…Weird, weird, weird, weird?"

"Stop calling me weird!"

"Don't just sit there, help."

"But he _wants_ to fall, why can't we just let him?"

"You agreed to do whatever I said, grab hold of him!"

"Don't wanna."

"Why you—"

"What is that?" Erza called out from the front of the car successfully diverting the passenger's attention to whatever had caught the S-class mage's eye.

* * *

**Oshibana Station**

"Please stay back! Because of derailment, entrance to the station has been blocked." An announcement sounded, causing most of the crowd to look at the conductor holding the megaphone.

"Derailment?" an elderly voice floated above the nervous chatter, "are you serious?"

"I heard rumors that dangerous people were occupying the station."

"Please stay back!" The conductor announced again.

An armored hand clasped onto his shoulder, starting him. "You, What is the situation inside?"

"Who are you?" He started to say but got head-butted by a demonic looking Erza. The team sighed, looking very happy that _they _weren't the ones being interrogated by Erza.

"The situation inside?" She tried again but since the conductor didn't answer fast enough she head-butted him too.

"So she requires immediate reply?" Lucy sighed, supporting a recovering Natsu.

"So you're starting to understand what kind of person she is…" Gray said, watching her as if this sort of behavior was normal. Ichigo was watching with interest, she reminded him of a lot of his friends from the gotei 13 put together.

Kurami, on the other hand, was laughing. They had gotten used to her outbursts by now and paid no mind to the cackling shinigami. _What are you supposed to accomplish with that method?_

"Gray, where are your clothes?" Kurami turned around to see a naked raven-haired mage. She squealed and covered her eyes as she punched Gray 20 meters down the road.

"PERVERT!"

"I feel like that was somehow my fault—" Lucy started, smiling guiltily at a fuming Gray.

"Eisenwald is inside, let's go!" Erza had returned from her hellish interrogation process. It was surprising she got _any _information at _all_.

"But, is _this _my job?" Lucy whined, referring to the motion sick Natsu who was using her like a walking stick.

The shinigami gave her a sympathetic smile.

* * *

**Inside the station**

The team was in a large fancy hall with white pillars leading down the path towards the fork on the other end of the lavish room. It was giant and all white, putting the raven-haired shinigami on edge.

"I heard that a military platoon entered, but they haven't returned yet." Erza announced, running as fast as she could. "They are probably battling Eisenwald."

The remnants of a defeated army littered the stairway about 10 meters away. Erza's eyes narrowed.

Lucy squeaked and turned to look at Ichigo who was carrying Natsu on his back while Lucy rested. He scowled at the sight. _They defeated a whole squadron? How strong _are _they?_

"They were all annihilated—" Kurami whispered from next to Erza.

"Yes, They were up against an entire guild, in other words, against mages. So even a military platoon was no match, huh?"

A million thoughts ran in Ichigo's head. How were the military so weak? If they weren't…did that mean that Eisenwald was too strong?

The team's footsteps echoed in the hallway, an aura of determination engulfed the group, marking them as a fearsome foe.

An open doorway stood between them and Eisenwald. They would not hesitate. They would _not_ let the dark guild kill _anyone_.

"You're here, as expected." A laugh rang out from inside the room the Fairy Tail members had just entered. "You Fairy Tail flies."

"Flies…"Kurami murmured quietly with a fake smile. "Interesting choice of words."

The room was filled with mages all shapes and sizes. They were all staring at the small group of Fairy Tail mages, yearning for some action. The shinigami could feel the killing intent rolling off of the dark guild Eisenwald and decided to release some of their own.

The air grew heavy with tension so thick that Erza could probably cut it with one of her many swords.

"So many of them!" Lucy exclaimed, looking as if she might turn around and run back at any moment.

"You bastard," Erza shouted at a figure on the windowsill, "are you Erigor?"

The said man smiled menacingly. He had long white hair that stuck up and was holding a giant, sharp looking scythe. Blue tattoos slithered around his bare torso and bandages were wrapped around his forearm. There was another tattoo under his eye that matched his navy blue scarf. He wore some sort of hobo-lady-skirt that surprisingly didn't look bad on him.

Kurami snickered which made the man scowl but he regained his composure as he saw Lucy try in vain to wake Natsu up.

"Natsu wake up!" She called, shaking him vigorously. "We have work to do!"

"It's no use." Happy declared. "First the train, then the car, now you. Triple vehicle combo!"

"I'm a vehicle?!" Lucy exclaimed picturing her head on various transportation vehicles.

"You flies!" Kageyama growled at them, "Because of you, Erigor san was…"

Natsu regained consciousness at the sound of the voice. He had things to settle with the owner of that particular voice.

"What is your goal?" Erza asked, her voice resonating through the building. "What are you planning to do with Lullaby?"

It wasn't a stretch to imagine this woman as one of the strongest members of fairy tail.

"Don't you get it?" Erigor asked her, unfazed. "What can we use at a station?"

He pushed himself off of the window ledge and a gust of wind blowing him up 20 feet in the air. He stood there, ginning at them threateningly.

"He's flying?" Lucy shouted in disbelief.

"It's wind magic!" Happy explained.

Erigor lowered himself onto the green glass orb on the top of the speakers. It was an obvious clue. _They would be incredibly stupid not to get it after this clue_.

"Are you planning to broadcast Lullaby?" Erza shouted inducing a laugh from the Ace of Eisenwald.

"There are thousands of people around the station, no, if we increase the volume, the whole town might be listening!" He said, "Me melody of death…"

Ichigo had been growing angrier and angrier with every word the man had said. What justified killing over a thousand people? It was unforgivable.

"You're planning to make innocent people listen to lullaby?" The substitute shinigami's voice was expressionless but Kurami could feel the spike in his reiatsu.

She was getting angry herself. How _dare_ he? She could tell the rest of the group was on the same page as the two shinigami.

"This is a purge." Erigor said, wiping the menacing smile off of the raven-haired girl's face. "A purge for those fools who live for keeping their own rights and safety without knowing that the same rights have been stolen from others. "

The next words sent a shock through the unstable girl. "It is a sin to live in ignorance of the unfairness of the world. That is why…the shinigami has come to punish them."

"Shinigami? Don't make me laugh." The occupants of the room turned to look at the beautiful girl, surprised. Her eyes were shadowed and a dark aura was leaking off of her, Ichigo watched her, eyes narrowed.

"You do not _deserve_ to be called a _shinigami_." She spat at the man. Erigor's face contorted in anger.

It seemed like her insanity was back, but he was too angry to care. Good, let her release her inner demon on this disgrace of a human being.

"You little brat—"

Lucy was the first to recover, "Even if you do that, your right will not be restored! You were banned from the league because you did bad things, right?"

"We haven't come this far for rights…" Erigor shouted, adverting his eyes from the girl to smile at the other 5 mages below him. "But authority! If we gain authority, we can clean up the past as well as rule the future!"

"You're an idiot." Ichigo growled.

"It's too bad for you, flies." Kageyama said, placing his hand on the floor, "You will go to hell without seeing the Dark Age!"

At that, the man activated his magic sending tendrils of shadows reaching out to grab Lucy but before they could reach her, there was a roar of fire and the shadows shattered, falling around Natsu who's fist was coated in his fire.

"You bastard—" Kageyama started, looking at him with barely concealed anger.

"That voice, It's you after all." Natsu said, looking at the man in the white jacket from behind.

"Natsu! Nice comeback!" Lucy looked extremely relieved.

"Cool pose." Ichigo smirked, receiving a smile from the dragon slayer.

"Aren't there a lot of them?"

"Enemies, they're all our enemies!" Lucy informed him.

Natsu brought his fists together, ready for a fight. He looked like he wanted to murder them all.

Erigor grinned and floated up, "I'll leave the rest to you." And…disappeared.

"He ran away!" Lucy and Happy said simultaneously.

The rest of the group was unfazed. "Natsu, Gray, you go after him."

They looked down at the red haired mage, surprised. "If you two team up, you can defeat the shinigami Erigor."

Erza turned around to see Natsu and Gray were butting heads, not wanting to work together at all. Despite the fact that thousands of lives were on their hands, they were still reluctant to work together, at anything.

"Are you listening!?" Erza barked at the two. They shouted their agreement, not wanting the s-class mage to beat them into a pulp, and ran after Erigor.

"They ran away?" shouts came from the large group of mages. "They're going after Erigor!"

"Leave it to me!" A man in a weird helmet hat thing that made him look like a bee shot whips from his fingers that wrapped around the balcony of the second floor. He jumped up, using the whips as a spring to get him onto the second floor. "I, Rayure sama will defeat them!"

"I will go as well!" Kageyama shouted from the ground, a magic circle wide enough to engulf him on the floor under him. "I won't forgive that guy no matter what!"

A pool of shadows appeared and pulled Kageyama into it. Kurami bit back her surprise. So _this _was magic. It was pretty impressive.

"After we clean these guys up, we'll go after them. On second thoughts…Ichigo, follow those idiots, I don't trust them alone." Erza ordered.

Ichigo gave Kurami a worried look, she still hadn't moved from her position. He wasn't worried about the guild, even _if _they had magic but he wouldn't want her to go overboard.

"Us girls against this many?" Lucy squeaked.

He decided to leave once she looked up and gave him a dazzling smile. "We'll be fine."

Ichigo nodded once and ran after the two idiots, glad that she hadn't outright said _do I have permission to go into spirit form?_

"You're just girls, what do you think you can do?" A mouse like man from Eisenwald said, "Your male escort just left too. I think you had a better chance of winning with him around."

"We will tear off your wings, you flies!" Another said.

Lucy resorted to pulling her cutest look. "But we're so cute, you wouldn't do that, would you?"

"Lucy, come back!" Happy pleaded.

"You scumbags!" Erza shouted and a magic circle appeared in front of her outstretched hand. A glowing light shot up that turned out to be a sword. She caught it in one hand, obviously very familiar with her weapon.

Kurami raised an eyebrow. _Flashy. _

"A magic sword!" Lucy said, amazed.

Kurami had decided to act and pulled out her soul candy. _You'd better work; I don't feel like being stuck in this body forever._ She swallowed a pill and was pulled out of her Gigai.

The mages watched in awe as the beautiful shinigami stepped up beside Erza, her Hakama and Furisode adding a new grace to her movements. Behind her, her Gigai knelt on the ground, faithfully watching over the body.

Erza opted to put away her surprise in the heat of the battle dawning on them. She doubted they would be tough enough to give her trouble but she didn't fancy saving an inexperienced mage while fighting off this many enemies.

"If you continue to insult Fairy Tail—" Erza started.

"I can't guarantee that you'll see tomorrow!" Kurami finished, drawing her Zanpakutou.

"Nothing new here!" shouts echoed in the room as Eisenwald charged, "We have our share of magic swords too!"

They charged Erza first but in a second, their swords had been shattered and the sheer force of her swings threw them back.

Kurami stood there smiling, as they got closer. As soon as they were close enough to touch her, grinning with lust, she used shunpo of appear behind them, swinging her zanpakutou and catching them off guard.

The dark guild members turned around to see one of their friends fall over revealing a smiling Kurami. She didn't hesitate to attack.

The first man who attacked her didn't stand a chance. She stepped to the side, avoiding his clumsy usage of his weapon and slashed her zanpakutou across his back.

The next three that tried to get her went down the same way. Kurami moved with ease that came from decades of practice. She really didn't have to use her sword but she had drawn it expecting for a fight and it would look uncool to sheath her sword after just bringing it out.

Erza tried to hide her surprise at the girl's skill level. This girl was just a treasure trove of surprises.

"You're boring me." Kurami said in a playful voice.

"Boring? Fine then," A dark haired mage said, "Take this!"

The man shot a beam of light towards the girl, aiming to kill. Light flared and a large explosion boomed right where Kurami had been standing. The Eisenwald member raised his arms in triumph only to be cut down the next second.

Kurami located a large group of enemies and forged forwards in a deadly dance. Defeated mages were left lying in her wake.

Her Gigai dodged the flying magic and bodies easily, keeping out of all the mages' way.

The shinigami could faintly see Erza who was crushing her enemies easily and Lucy who had called upon a crab man she deduced to be the spirit of Cancer from what Lucy had told her the night before. She made her way towards the red haired mage.

"Not bad." Erza called out to Lucy who had just beaten her own group of attackers.

"It wasn't _that _good!" Lucy said, shining inside. _Yay! I made a good impression!_

Before Kurami could get there, 3 members of Eisenwald showed up in front of her out of nowhere.

The teen jumped over one of them, landing on her hands and kicked two of her assailants in the head and, still spinning, jumped up with one hand and slashed her last opponent.

"Impressive." Erza complimented, cutting off her rambling about 'Ebi' and 'choki'. The teen smirked in response. "However, there are still many of them left. This is troublesome."

"I will wipe them out." At these words, Erza began to shine. Her whole body was engulfed in light. She brought her hands up over her head and pulled them down to the side.

The men began to sweat, staring at the woman like she was a goddess. That was understandable since she was pretty much naked but you couldn't see it since it was so bright. Looks of admiration were etched on every man's face as she ex-quipped.

"Magic warriors fight by ex-quipping weapons." Happy explained. "But Erza can also Ex-quip her Magic Armor to increase her abilities. That is Erza's magic. Its name is…The Knight!"

Erza appeared in full body armor. There were wings of steel, a dress of steel and two giant swords. Her stomach was exposed, only a band of silver metal covered her breasts. She looked like an angel ready for war. Her scarlet hair covered one eye and a band of metal encircled her head with the design of wings.

_Calling forth weapons…vaguely similar to what we can do, isn't it? _Kurami thought.

The men's eyes burst out of her head and their thoughts of war were replaced with thoughts that entertained true love.

"Dance, My swords!" A wheel of sword started spinning behind the angel like figure of Erza.

_'Dance, Sode no shirayuki' _The thought randomly struck Kurami, eliciting a gasp from the girl.

"Erza…" A fat man with necklace of giant bronze plates cowered in fear. "Could she be…?"

"Circle sword!" Erza shouted, raising her twin swords above her head and bringing them down in a large arc. The men in her vicinity flew back. That was half of the Eisenwald army defeated just like that.

"Amazing…" Lucy started, eyes wide with shock and sweating with nervousness. "She wiped out half of them in a single blow!"

"There's no mistaking it! It's the strongest woman in Fairy Tail, Queen of the fairies…Titania Erza!"

The other men had snapped out of their lovey dovey fantasies and were staring at the woman with a newfound fear in their eyes.

"Leave the rest to me." Lucy turned to see Kurami had raised her sword in front of her, the blade pointing diagonally up in front of her face. "I'll finish this as fast as I can."

She abruptly disappeared making Lucy gawp at the empty spot the girl left behind.

"Where'd she go!?" Lucy screeched.

"I don't know—" Erza started to say but the sound of the tiles cracking brought the Fairy Tail mages' attention to the middle of the large group of enemy mages.

What they saw were the men moving backwards hurriedly staring in terror at one of their comrades who's head had been slammed into the floor, cracking the tiles, by Kurami's hand.

Lucy stared in shock at her brutal behavior. Her eyes widened even further as the room began to shake, the floor under Kurami's feet began cracking under the tremendous spiritual pressure the girl was putting out, which she mistook for magical power.

The men began to struggle breathing, clawing at their throats as they fell slowly to one knee. The Fairy Tail mages could feel it too, but since it wasn't directed at them, it didn't have the same effect as the Eisenwald members did.

Kurami tilted forwards and started running. Erza's eyes could hardly follow the girl as she ran and flipped and cartwheeled and summersaulted between the men.

Not long after, the pressure dissipated and she started walking towards the two women (and a cat). The men all collapsed behind her marking it as a win for Fairy Tail.

One of the Eisenwald mages managed to run away since no one tried to stop him.

"Th-Th-That w-was—" Lucy stammered, "Amazing!"

The sleeves of her furisode billowed behind her, giving the impression that she had black wings. A word popped into Lucy's mind but she couldn't exactly pin it.

Erza had changed back into her usual armor, finding no more use for her Heaven's wheel armor.

"He might be going after Erigor, please chase him." Erza asked Lucy.

"Me?" She squeaked.

"Please!" Erza replied a little forcefully. Lucy, hearing the dangerousness in her tone, decided to run after the man after all, taking Happy with her.

As soon as she left, Kurami looked at Erza silently and blinked. The woman was on the ground, panting slightly.

"You've gotta be—" The raven-haired mage said.

"It seems I drove the car too fast after all." Erza commented.

"But first thing's first, what was that?" She said as Kurami sat down heavily beside her.

"What do you mean?"

"That last move…that was incredible magical power you put out."

"I, our…magic… is to…well…it's to separate our souls from our bodies, in which we gain more…let's just say, powers." Kurami said, finding it difficult to pick the appropriate words.

"More powers?"

"You know, we're…different."

"Are you talking about the amnesia?" Erza asked a little sadly, "It is unfortunate indeed."

"No…it's just, we're not from here."

"Yes, I know you're not from Magnolia."

"No, I mean this world."

"World?"

And Kurami explained everything to her, having high hopes that the powerful mage could help her. It had been shown to her the strength that the woman had and she was definitely impressed. Having most of her spiritual, no, magical power drained out then fighting like that…

* * *

**With Gray and Natsu**

"Join forces?" Gray said incredulously, running as fast as he could down the narrow corridor. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Yeah, Fire and Ice don't mix, that's how it is!" Natsu shouted, running along beside Gray.

"Damn that Erza, she just does whatever she wants!"

"She just decides everything herself, no questions asked!"

"I CAN HANDLE SOMEONE LIKE ERIGOR JUST FINE BY MYSELF!" They both shouted at the same time, stopping.

"What the hell are you talking about?" They both froze and turned to see Ichigo had run up behind them. "Erza told you guys to team up and this is what you do?"

"Whatever, I don't need you on my case too." Gray growled.

"Fine." Ichigo said, scowling at the man.

All three of them looked down the corridor at the same time and stopped.

"Which way do we go?" They said in unison.

"We should split up." Ichigo decided after careful deliberation.

Natsu and Gray immediately chose separate paths, standing with their backs facing each other.

"We're up against some bastard who is trying to let loose some serious magic." Gray said, turning to Natsu with a smile, "If you find him, give him a beating!"

"That's not all, is it?" Natsu said, bringing up his fist, "That idiot chose to pick a fight with Fairy Tail, I'll burn him to a crisp!"

The two smiled at each other, then seemed to realize what they were doing and turned away, frowning.

"Don't you dare die on me." Gray muttered quiet enough so that Natsu couldn't hear the words.

"What?" Natsu asked, trying to make out his words.

"Nothing." Gray said and turned away, running towards the path he chose. After a second's thought, Natsu did the same.

Ichigo watched them both run off, lost for words. It seemed as if he was completely forgotten. What path was he going to choose? A tremendous amount of spiritual energy he recognized as Kurami's cut him off mid thought.

_What the hell is happening?_ He thought, panicking as he ran back as fast as he could.

* * *

**With Gray **

"Wait. They're planning to broadcast Lullaby on the speakers, that mean's they'll be in the broadcasting room!" He said, running faster down the hallway towards the said room.

When he spotted it, he ran up to it kicking the old wooden door open and destroying it the in the process.

His shadow slid into the room silently as he stepped in, noticing that there was no one there.

"So he wasn't planning on broadcasting it?" Gray wondered, stepping further into the room. He was oblivious of the presence up on the ceiling behind him until something whipped towards him and he was forced to dodge.

"I knew you'd come here." The man said, revealing himself and his weapon. "And try to mess with our plans!"

He was hanging from the ceiling in black flat ribbon like objects with one hand under him, balancing of the tight stings while his other hand was in the air, the black ribbon-like objects flicking in the air above him like live snakes.

"You guys are planning something else, right?" Gray asked, smiling a little sarcastically.

* * *

**With Ichigo, Kurami and Erza**

Ichigo ran into the room to see cracked tiles and a bunch of knocked out mages.

"What the hell?" He called out to the two teens sitting on the floor side by side.

They both looked up at the same time, surprise mirrored on their faces. The two had been in a deep conversation on where the two shinigami had come from, as well as who they were.

"Speak of the devil, Ichigo—" Kurami called him over, smiling warmly thought it didn't reach her eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo." Erza said, surprising the substitute shinigami. He had never told her his real name. He glanced at Kurami who was frowning slightly, worried that she might have incurred Ichigo's wrath.

It seemed that the girl trusted Erza enough to tell them of their situation. It might have been because of Erza's fighting power, he wouldn't know, he wasn't there to see her. He knew the shinigami could take them all by herself. There were so many unanswered questions about her. How did she end up where she is right now? Why wasn't she part of the gotei 13? What…what happened to make her like this?

There was so much he didn't know but…somehow, Kurami had put her trust in this slightly crazy mage and he couldn't help but do so too.

"She told you?" He asked Erza a little hesitantly.

"Yes…I'm finding it a little hard to believe her but it doesn't mean that I don't." Erza stated. "We will have to talk about this after the matter with Eisenwald has been dealt with."

"She…be proud that she trusted you." Ichigo said, not knowing exactly why he said it in the first place. "I know that her trust in you is not misguided."

Erza paused, surprised and then smiled genuinely at the orange haired teen. She would not betray the girl's trust until her last breath, _I promise_.

"About Lullaby…isn't there a large group of people outside the train station?" Kurami reminded the mage who widened her eyes in shock.

"How could I forget!?" She reprimanded herself while running to the balcony above the crowd gathered outside.

Kurami smiled at Ichigo happily, they might actually be able to go back! This hope, no matter how small, kept them from giving up.

"You know her magic, it's similar to ours."

"How?"

"She summons weapons and armor from an alternate world."

"Interesting…" He said looking at the doorway the red haired mage had previously walked through. "I want to see what she's going to do next."

They walked after Erza, and froze in shock.

"If you value your lives, get away from here immediately!" She shouted into the megaphone that had mysteriously appeared. "This station has been taken over by dark mages. They are planning to perform magic that will kill everyone here!"

The crowd who had stopped to listen to the mage in confusion had started to scream in alarm.

"You! Why are you spreading panic like that?" One of the station staff asked Erza skeptically.

"They're panicking in a very orderly way…" Kurami said, rubbing the back of her head and smiling confusedly.

"You could say that…" Ichigo turned to the station staff, "You should evacuate as well, it's not safe for you here."

The men looked at him worriedly and started backing away.

"There aren't any more people around the station." Kurami informed Erza who was watching the crowd as it ran away.

As soon as she said it, she felt wind blowing her hair around and turned, eyes widening.

"What?" Erza wondered, "The station is surrounded by wind?"

"What the hell is going on?" Ichigo asked gruffly, shielding Kurami from the wind.

Her instincts started screaming at her to be careful and she turned around again to see that Erigor had floated down and was smirking at them.

"Hey, you little brat." He called down to Kurami.

She smiled at him sarcastically hiding her inner rage, "Nice to see your cowardly ass again."

Erigor's eyes narrowed at her words but he would not give her the pleasure of showing her how much she got under his skin. He decided to ignore her instead.

"I always wanted to fight you once, Titania." He called out to Erza. "But I don't have to time to play with you now."

His palm started to glow with a dark purple light and suddenly all three of the fairy tail mages were pushed into the cage of wind Erigor had created.

"What the hell you bastard?" Ichigo shouted through the raging wall at dark mage. "Let me out!"

He charged at the wall, eyes lighting up in anger and was flung back with the force of the whirlwind.

Only getting angrier, he started shouting curses at the man who only laughed as he was flung back again and again.

"He's actually…impulsive and hot tempered, don't you think?" Erza said quietly to Kurami while watching the orange haired teen try to pick a fight with a wall of wind.

"Yeah…Yamamoto sama described him as stubborn, short tempered, strong willed and impulsive…and empty headed." She said, counting off his traits on her fingers. "I didn't think so after I met him but…he's finally lost his cool!"

_Yamamoto sama? _Erza wondered. _Shouldn't she call him Yamamoto soutaicho...?_

"What'd you say, shorty?" He growled at her angrily. Kurami stood up, her aura darkening and punched him straight into the barrier which slingshotted him straight back into her.

Both of them hit a pillar and slid to the ground, dizzy from the force.

"Stop it, you can only pass through this magic wall from the outside. You're stuck." Erigor sneered down at them. "If you try to get out, the wall will shred you to pieces."

"What do you mean?" Erza shouted furiously at the wind mage.

"Thanks to your little pathetic show, I've wasted quite a bit of time. If you'll excuse me." He said, flying off. He took no notice of Erza's calls for him to wait.

"Damn that Erigor, where could he be heading?" She wondered aloud and turned to the two bickering shinigami. "Are you two okay?"

Kurami nodded but said, "I would be, if this guy wasn't so _heavy_."

"It was your fault for punching me into the barrier!"

"Why don't we—"

"Why are you trying to lay the blame on me, Strawberry?"

"It means 'one who protects' you psycho!"

"What was that?"

"Please stop f—"

"You heard me!"

"Enough!" Erza shouted at them, pissed off that they were ignoring her.

The two stilled immediately,finding it better not to evoke the mage's wrath when she had promised to help them. You wouldn't want to get on the bad side of your saviors, would you?

"Let us deal with the unconscious Eisenwald members." She ordered.

"Sure." The two agreed unenthusiastically then walked inside, searching for some rope. Erza tried to hide her annoyance, it was always a bother when troublesome people weren't scared of her enough to do everything she told them to do...

* * *

**With Gray**

Gray walked back towards the room that the Eisenwald mages were gathered in having gotten the information he needed from the Rayure person he defeated.

He had a few scrapes from his fight but the mage had hardly been worth his time. He was frozen as soon as Gray got the information he wanted.

_The Guild masters, huh?_ Gray thought, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, _Those old gramps wouldn't die so easily, would they?_

He ran through the doorway he determined led to the giant station platform he had left the rest of the team in.

"ERZA!" Gray called out as he stopped and leaned over the railing. The S-class mage looked up from interrogating a dark guild member she had beaten.

"Gray? Weren't you with Natsu?" She asked him.

"They split up…"Ichigo offered helpfully.

"More importantly, Eisenwald's real objective is the station down the line!" He told her.

"What?" Erza said, baffled.

"It's where the old man and the other guild masters are having their meeting, they're planning on using Lullaby there!"

"_So that is what you were planning?!" _Erza gave the man she was interrogating her scariest look, a dark purple aura emanating off of her and causing the man to scream in fear.

"The station is surrounded by a wall of wind." Kurami said to Gray. "There's no way out, apparently."

"Yeah, I saw it earlier." Gray said, running down the stairway and emerging again through another doorway to the left of the group. "You'll be turned to mincemeat if you try to force your way out."

"Yeah, we kind of figured." Ichigo said, scowling as usual.

"Ichigo! You get in a fight or something?"

"Yeah, with the wall." Kurami said, snickering.

"The wall of _wind_." He corrected, glaring at her. "And it was _your_ fault!"

"Right, like you didn't continuously ram yourself into the wall," she smirked, "In your _body _no less."

Gray gave the two a bemused smile, sighing a little. The orange haired teen was covered in millions of small cuts. _So he wasn't as level headed as he made himself out to be. _The thought made him feel slightly better, he could sense the man's monster magical power as soon as he appeared in the guild hall, knowing he wasn't perfect made him a little easier to talk to.

"But while we're sitting here, Erigor is getting closer to where the master is." She raised her head as if suddenly realizing something. "Now that I think about it, there was someone called Kage among Eisenwald's ranks."

"Yeah, I remember him!" Ichigo, "Kagetora or something…"

"He dispelled Lullaby's seal all by himself!" Erza said, waiting for the rest to catch on.

Gray was the first one to do so, "Dispel…he's a dispeller? Then he could bring down Erigor's magic wall!"

"Great idea, Search for Kagetora and capture him." Ichigo ordered.

"I'm the one giving orders." Erza said in a bloodcurdling voice. Ichigo apologized profusely as Kurami laughed at him. Ichigo didn't like having women mad at him, they were unpredictably scary most of the time.

* * *

**With Lucy**

Lucy walked along with happy, dragging her feet in exhaustion. Packages and luggage littered the massive hallway they were making their way down and she moaned.

"It's no use, I've completely lost him!" She cried.

"Aye!"

"Why don't we go back to Erza for now?"

"Waahh!" Happy cried, putting on a face reserved for around a campfire at night with a bunch of scared little kids.

"What's with that reaction?" Lucy asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Erza told us to follow him." Happy made an it's-the-end-of-the-world-for-you pose and started sweating furiously, "You're so amazing, Lucy. You'd ignore a request from Erza? _The _Erza. A request from the _Erza_! I can't bear to look at you after she's done with you, Lucy!"

"What kind of things will she do to me!?" Lucy asked Happy, spooked. "Fine! I get it! I'll look for him! I'll keep looking for him until I find him!"

"Your attitude changes a lot…"

"What was that, you mangy cat!?"

"Nothing!" Happy said, giggling a bit.

"Shut up!" Lucy screamed at him, "Why the hell am I listening to a _cat _anyways?"

* * *

**With Natsu and Kage_yama_ **

Explosions rocked the building as Natsu blasted the floor to smithereens searching for the missing ace of Eisenwald, Erigor. Stonewalls were broken through, creating entryways for the rampaging dragon slayer who was unaware of another presence following him.

"Damn that Erigor, WHERE ARE YOU!?" He called out to the demolished hallways and various obliterated rooms.

Kageyama popped out of a shadow on the ceiling where he had been trailing the pink haired mage for the past half an hour. "Has this guy ever heard of a door?"

It was true; the wooden doors to the rooms he had destroyed were ignored as he blasted through the walls to search for the missing mage.

The dark mage followed Natsu into a room full of crates through a hole in the wall.

"Well, I suppose he won't be a problem if I left him." Kageyama said rising from the shadows, "But I wouldn't be satisfied with that will I?"

Natsu turned around just in time to be thrown into the crates behind him from shadow fists Kageyama controlled. He let out a yelp as he crashed into the empty wooden boxes, debris flying around him.

"This is for earlier, you motion sick fly!" Kageyama said, smirking at Natsu who was stuck headfirst into the pile of broken wood. He was wriggling around, trying to get out.

"You again!?" Natsu shouted, enraged and emerged with his head stuck through a picture frame.

"That looks good on you." Kageyama said, snorting.

"Shut up, Hage (bald)"

"It's not Hage, It's Kage, Kageyama!" It was the dark mage's turn to be angry.

"Oh, really?" Natsu said, not really caring about the mage's name. The dragon slayer was insanely bad at names, even calling Lucy 'Luigi' for the first few days she had been at fairy tail and working with him.

"Whatever, I understand your magic now." The Eisenwald mage said smugly. "You wear your flames to increase your destructive power, that's quite rare magic."

Natsu's head exploded. Literally. The picture burned to bits and his head stayed alight with fire, showing off his inner rage.

"I really want to punch you right now but it's not the time for that!" Natsu said sounding conflicted and not even bothering to correct Kageyama about his magic. "Where is Erigor?"

Kageyama smiled smugly, confident in his own magic power, "Who knows? Maybe I'll tell you if you beat me."

"Knuckle shadow!" The man yelled and a magic circle appeared below him. Thin shadows with knuckles of the end of it appeared from the circle and punched Natsu who blocked. Kageyama looked stunned that the same technique he used to punch the Fairy Tail mage into a bunch of crates had been blocked with relative ease.

"Oh? You'll tell me after I beat you?" Natsu asked happy to get a chance to pay him back, "That's killing two birds with one stone, I'm getting fired up."

Tremors shook the building as Natsu dodged the shadows Kageyama was bombarding him with, alerting the other mages in the building currently chasing the dispeller.

Natsu dodged shadow after shadow easily with a smile on his face, loving to fight.

_He's a slippery one_. Kageyama thought panicking a little, "But, You can't dodge my snake shadows, they'll follow you into the depths of hell!"

The dispeller put his hand flat on the ground churning up another spell and a magic circle formed under his open palm. Snakes rose from the purple light emanating from the magic circle. There were dozens of them all targeting one dragon slayer, lunging at him all at once.

The mage put his fists together, his own magic circle appearing and his eyes focused with intense concentration. The man bent closer to the ground, thrusting his arms to the side where flames with circling like a giant whip. "Then I'll rip them apart."

"Wing slash of the Fire Dragon!" He said, bounding forwards and destroying the snake shadows as well as a large portion of the floor. Debris was flying everywhere, smoke drifting through the air and hiding Natsu from view.

"Impossible!" Kageyama said, putting an arm up to cover his face from the heat and debris. "He destroyed my snake shadows with a single attack? What destructive power…I can't believe a mage like him exists"

Fear was laced into his gaze as Natsu stared him down, his eyes glowing with malice.

"How would you like another high punch?" Natsu said, coating his fist with fire.

"He's…He's a monster!" Kageyama cried, terrified as Natsu attacked him.

* * *

**With Erza, Gray, Ichigo and Kurami**

"This is…" Gray said feeling the tremor and familiar magical power.

"Yeah, Let's hurry." Erza ordered.

"That was Natsu!?" Kurami said, eyes widening. "He's worse than Ichigo!"

"Hey! I'm not _that _bad!"

Kurami laughed sarcastically. "Yeah right."

"Do you think that Kagetora guy will be alive when we get there?" Ichigo asked Erza.

"If he isn't I'll beat him back to life." She replied, deadly serious.

"I don't think it works that way, Erza…" Gray said, wincing slightly at the thoughts of Erza's methods of getting what she wants.

* * *

**With Natsu and Kage_yama_ **

"Oh man, it looks like I've destroyed the place again." He said, only a figure in the blinding debris that was cause by Natsu's previous attack. "Why does it always end up this way? Well, I feel better now."

He stopped in front of a smoldering Kageyama. He was slumped against the wall, thoroughly beaten.

"I win, Dekoyama." Natsu said, crossing his arms and standing over the worn out dark mage.

"It's Kageyama!" The man said, finding enough strength to be angry with Natsu for not getting his name right.

"Tell me where Erigor is, like you promised!"

The loyal Eisenwald member laughed evilly. "Idiot…Erigor san is no longer here."

"What!?" Natsu said, outraged.

"Natsu!" Erza's voice rang out through the hallway he had created from bashing Kageyama through countless walls. "That is enough, we need him!"

"Nice going, shitfire!" Gray added, running beside her.

Natsu looked at them with a mystified expression on his face, which quickly turned to fear as he beheld the figure of Erza running towards him with a magic sword raised above her head and a look of rage in her eyes.

"I don't know what I did but I'm sorry!" Natsu cried out, panicked. He screamed and ducked at Erza's sword slammed into the wall, barely missing Kageyama's head.

"Dispel the magic wall without doing anything stupid." She told him with her no-nonsense face on. Kageyama was almost crying in fear.

"She ain't kidding, man!" Natsu said, just as scared at the man currently facing off against the scariest woman in Fairy Tail's blade. "Erza's dangerous!"

"Shut up!" Gray shouted at Natsu.

"Got it?" Erza threatened the petrified mage.

"Fine." As soon as these words left his mouth, his eyes widened in shock and he cried out in pain as a hand emerged from his stomach.

"Why…?" He said as he fell to the ground revealing the green haired Eisenwald mage with the bronze plate necklace cowering behind him, visibly shaking. He was half in the wall, displaying his magic.

"Kage!" Erza called.

"Damn it, we lost our only exit!" Gray swore and rushed to Kageyama's side along with Erza.

"Kage, hang in there, we need your power!" The red haired mage said, sounding very insensitive. Natsu stood there, staring at the man in the wall in shock. Anger was growing inside of him, dark and unyielding. "You're the only one who can dispel the magic wall!"

Natsu's fist clenched and his body erupted in flames, "Wasn't he—"

"Wasn't he an ally?" Ichigo's voice suddenly rose and anger made his reiatsu swirl around him. " Wasn't he in the same guild as you?"

"A guild is...family." Kurami had a dark aura swirling around her and she gave the shaking man an insanely mad look. "_How _dare_ you lay a hand on your _family!?"

Natsu's flames vanished as he stared in shock at the two extremely angry shinigami. The other mages in the room had similar looks on their faces, having never seen either of them like this before. Neither Gray nor Natsu questioned the change of the raven-haired girl's clothes.

Before the green haired man could disappear back into the wall, Ichigo had grabbed him by the hair faster than anyone wrenched him out with impossible strength. He threw the man to Kurami who punched him through 3 walls, anger radiating off of her.

The punch was harder than any of the punches she had used on the male members of the team. Natsu stared at them, and Ichigo stared at him back, expecting a fight for knocking his opponent out before he could but instead, the pink haired mage gave the two a smile.

"That was an awesome punch." They noticed that the rage had not evaporated and the smile was a bit forced but otherwise genuine. Ichigo smirked back then grabbed Kurami's wrist as she tried to walk towards the mage she had knocked out, knowing full well what she would do.

Her eyes were shaded and she was reeking of killing intent but the mages didn't seem to notice and went back to panicking over Kageyama who was currently resting his head on Erza's lap. Ichigo didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse.

He decided it was a curse after he saw the woman violently shake Kageyama, trying to get him to wake up. Ichigo sighed, amused. _You'll kill him that way. _

"Let me go." Kurami's voice was quiet but threatening but Ichigo being the stubborn person he was, didn't move a muscle.

The raven-haired shinigami's anger was justified but her rage seemed more personal…like it wasn't only directed at the green haired man. He couldn't deny that he was surprised, he had seen Kurami insane, sad, desperate, relieved, guilty and…angry but not on this level. _She's angry enough for both of us. _Ichigo thought, letting go of his anger for the unconscious man 3 rooms over.

Come to think of it, he had never seen her really _happy_. _I swear I will one day and I'll be the one to make her happy. _The thought surprised him. _It seemed like we _are_ close friends_. The dense substitute shinigami had misinterpreted his feeling completely.

"Leave it." He said, staring her down. When she didn't move, he softened up his features and said, "You've done enough. Your feelings were heard."

At this, Kurami ceased her tugging and took deep breaths, getting her rage under control. Ichigo let her go.

That was a mistake.

As soon as his hand left her wrist, she swung around and tried to punch him in the nose, which he barely dodged. The blow caught him on the jaw instead.

Ichigo took a few steps back, his anger rising once more. _You annoying little pest…_

"Thanks, I needed to get that out." She said, shaking out her fist. "You have a really hard head, I didn't realize that before."

"What was that for, you shrimp?" He retorted.

"Umm…am I interrupting something?" Lucy called out from the doorway of the room. Erza was shaking Kageyama violently while Gray was trying to calm her down. Natsu was staring at a hole in the wall, no, 3 walls while Kurami and Ichigo were in an intense fight, shouting at the top of their lungs.

* * *

**Clover canyon, With Erigor **

The Clover Canyon is a deep gorge that stretches all the way across the land. The only way over it is the railway.

On this railway was Erigor, his scythe resting on his shoulder. He had walked all this way on foot having used up too much magical power on the wind barrier to fly across the gorge.

"The town on Clover where the guild masters are having their meeting is near." He said. "Am I've replenished most of my magical power… Let's fly."

The man suddenly rose up, some stray bits of rock floating up with him. A magic circle appeared behind him and shot forwards, flying towards Clover and the plan that awaited him.

* * *

**With the strongest team in Fairy Tail**

"Wait…so their objective is the guild master's meeting?" Lucy exclaimed.

"The old man!" Natsu said, worried for the master of Fairy Tail.

The members of Fairy Tail were gathered on the balcony, just inside the raging wall of wind.

"Erigor blocked the only route to clover, and he's heading there now by air." Erza said, bending over the body of Kageyama who was laid out on the floor.

"It'd be possible to catch up to him in a magic powered car but…we've got to do something about this magic wall first."

"Ichigo, why don't you use your getsuga tensho?" Kurami whispered to the tall male beside her. She still hadn't returned to her Gigai and Ichigo was guessing it was hiding somewhere on Kurami's orders.

"For starters, it might not even work. What if the wall just slingshots it back at us?"

"I'll stop it."

"Your zanpakutou doesn't work like that!"

"You're not the only one who can fling Reiatsu around, you know." Kurami said, getting annoyed that there was no way out. Despite her words, she stayed silent and didn't argue anymore.

She looked up to see that Natsu had tried to punch his way out of the wall with his fire but the barrier just ate the fire up and hurled Natsu back, covered in scratches.

"That idiot." Ichigo said. He was getting impatient himself. All he wanted to do was get out and stop the maniacal bastard but he couldn't. He _hated _feeling helpless.

A foot flew towards his head and he caught it with one hand instinctively, feeling himself be pushed back a few inches. He traced the foot back to its owner, which happened to be Kurami. The insane girl was grinning.

"You look a little tense." She said, smiling viciously. "You need to loosen up."

She yanked her foot out of his grasp and jumped, using her other leg to try to kick him in the head. Ichigo brought his arms out to block and scowled in annoyance. Now was _not _the time to be playing around. A vein popped on his forehead.

Ichigo pushed her back with all his strength in his human body and she flew back, skidding to a halt several meters back. He gripped his shinigami badge and he was shot out of his body. He caught it and lay it down behind him, noting it's position so the he didn't accidentally rip up his actual body and _actually _die.

The mages who were previously squabbling stared. They had never seen _magic _like this before. Erza looked with understanding, having already had an explanation on their powers. Ichigo seemed to disappear and reappear next to Kurami, a foot catching her on the stomach and throwing her into the wall a few hundred yards back.

Lucy squeaked. "_What are they doing?_ It's like they're trying to kill each other!"

Erza agreed. She would have put a stop to this but she appreciated the display of their abilities.

"He dissa…and…and…reap—how'd he do that?" Natsu said, astonished. Gray was in a similar state.

"Is it…transportation magic?" Gray asked.

Their eyes popped out of their heads when Kurami pushed herself out of the wall, cracking her neck but otherwise uninjured.

"How's she unhurt!?" Lucy wondered.

Kurami walked up to Ichigo and made to punch him but as soon as she saw his lack of resistance and the scowl on his face, she huffed and stopped, sulking.

"Lucy! Your keys!" Natsu suddenly exclaimed, surprising the celestial mage.

"What about them?"

"Spirits! Everlue was able to transport himself by going through the spirit world at Everlue mansion, remember?" Natsu recalled.

"But…Normal people would die if they did that." Lucy explained, "Besides, gates can only open where the stellar spirit mage is."

"Huh?" Natsu said, not grasping the concept even a little bit.

"In other words, if you wanted to use the spirit world as a passageway, you'd at least need another celestial mage at the destination point."

"You've lost me there." Natsu said, "Just do it."

"I've already told you that I can't! And a human entering the spirit world is an immense violation of the contracts. " Lucy said, lightly chiding the dragon slayer. "It's a good thing it was Everlue's key when it happened that time."

"Everlue's key…" Happy said. "That's right! Lucy I remembered!"

Happy ran towards Lucy, looking as if he had something extremely important to say.

"What is it?" Lucy said, recoiling slightly.

"The thing I was talking about on our way here!" Happy screamed at her.

"When you kept calling me weird?"

"This!" Happy said, producing a golden key that was previously in Everlue's possession.

"That's Virgo's key!" Lucy exclaimed, looking extremely surprised yet pissed at the same time. "You shouldn't steal things."

Lucy gripped Happy's mouth to stop him from talking while Natsu and Gray just watched. "You're wrong! I didn't steal it—"

An explosion interrupted the cat and the mages looked to see that Kurami had punched a crater in the ground. Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy sweated nervously at her strength.

"Anyways, Virgo herself asked me to give it to you!" At this, Lucy let go of Happy's mouth with a gasp of surprise.

"Geez, we don't have time to waste on this pointless crap." Gray muttered.

"Virgo?" Natsu said as another explosion occurred. He completely ignored it thinking of a giant extremely ugly woman with pink hair and a gorilla's body. "Oh, you mean that gorilla-maid?"

"She said that Everlue was arrested which broke their contract." Happy said, "so she said she wanted to form a contract with you, Lucy."

"Oh, so she showed up?" Lucy said, looking a little depressed and scared at having such a terrifying woman try to give her a key. "I should be happy but this isn't really the time you know. We've gotta think of a way out of here."

"But—" Happy was cut off by Lucy grabbing his cheeks and pulling…hard.

"Shut up." She said, a dark aura radiating off of her as she threatened the cat. "Kitty's should just lay quietly and meow."

"She can be pretty scary sometimes." Gray said, looking slightly nervous.

"She's way stronger than you think." Natsu said, smiling obliviously to her malice.

"But Virgo can dig holes in the ground, I was thinking we could escape from the magic wind wall by digging under it." Happy said, looking extremely sad and depressed to be shut down so quickly.

"W-What?" All the mages said in unison. Even the sparring couple stopped to stare at the cat. It seemed he wasn't a _complete_ idiot.

"I see!" Lucy said, lifting the cat up lovingly. "Way to go happy, why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Because you were pinching me."

Lucy got on the ground and bowed down, begging for forgiveness. "I'm sorry, so sorry. I'll give you a reward later so please give me the key!"

"Aye! Looking forward to the reward!" Natsu and Gray looked at the scene with bemused looks on their faces. This was just so _weird_.

Kurami and Ichigo walked up to the group of mages, neither of them sporting any injuries at all.

Erza nodded at Lucy who nodded back at the red haired mage. She concentrated and gathered up her magical power, putting her key in front of her.

"I am one who connects the paths to the stellar spirit world!" The ground beneath Lucy started to glow a pale gold. "Thou shalt answer my call and open thy gate!"

"Open, gate of the maiden!" She called, whipping the key to the side then directly down in a crossing motion. "Virgo!"

A giant magic circle appeared and a woman arose from the ground.

* * *

**Right...reviews...totally forgot. oops. **

**debs: I'll make the pairings interesting...i hope.  
**

**Aozora no Umi: Thank you and yeah...I guess it does.  
**

**Mondtanz: I don't know why but I can't seem to get Ichigo's character right. He's kind of annoying me at this point...but I'll keep working at it until I can do it. Um, right now Kurami only has to power of at most a lieutenant, It's just her bankai is not something you'd want to handle alone?  
**

**Sorry for the wait guys, really sorry. the next chapter will be up on time, promise!  
**

**hope you liked it. you might want to wait on the edits. eheh. seriously sorry also reviews! please?  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's the next chapter, sorry it's late but i have a good reason! There's been a bunch of things happening in school so i had my hands full until just recently. Good news is that school over in 3 days so i'll be able to update faster! Hope you enjoy this chapter and i'll proably edit it something during this week. Enjoy!**

**Btw, I don't own bleach or fairy tail. At all. **

* * *

**At Oshibana station with the team **

The woman was petite. She had pink hair the shade of a flamingo's and wore a maid's uniform. Her eyes were a startling blue but she wore chains on her wrists.

Lucy looked surprised, _has she never seen her before? How is that possible when I know for a fact that they encountered Virgo at Everlue mansion?_ Gray thought, carefully noting down the celestial mage's reaction.

"You called, master?" Virgo said, her voice light.

"Who are you?" Lucy said, frozen in place from surprise. She wasn't expecting a slim, pretty, pink haired celestial mage that looked about her age, after all.

"Yo, Marco, you really slimmed down!" Natsu said, chatting up the celestial spirit like they had all the time in the world.

"Look, Ichigo. I found someone worse at names than you are!" Kurami laughed at him causing a vein to pop in the substitute shinigami's forehead. Otherwise, he ignored her to the best of his ability.

"It's Virgo." The woman said, "I apologize for all the trouble I have given you in the past."

"Slimmed down?" Lucy screamed. "It's like she's a different person!"

"Different person?" Ichigo echoed.

"I am a faithful Celestial spirit." Virgo explained. "I perform my duties in the appearance my master desires."

"You seemed a lot more powerful and forceful before though." Natsu said, smirking a little.

"Really? Then…" A golden magic circle appeared under her feet and her appearance changed dramatically. She grew twice her size with the face of a gorilla. "I shall return to this form."

Gray and Lucy cried out in shock, fear etched into their faces while Ichigo's eyes widened and he gave a look that said, 'I-give-up-on-this-ridiculous-world.'

Kurami cocked her head, looking unaffected but still took a step to the right, partially behind Ichigo just in case she needed to use him as a shield.

"Don't say unnecessary things! I prefer the slim version!" Lucy shouted at Natsu who just shrugged. Virgo returned to her form but Ichigo had a feeling that the Ice mage had been scarred for life. "Anyway, we don't have time! Can we form the contract another time?"

"Understood, Master." Virgo said, turning to Lucy.

"And stop calling me 'master' already." Lucy said, pouting slightly.

Virgo spied the whip hanging off of Lucy's waist. "What about Mistress?"

"No thank you." Lucy said, turning away.

"What about princess?" Virgo asked once again, knowing this one would fit perfectly.

"Yeah…that might be nice." Lucy said, smiling narcissistically.

"So that's her thing, huh?" Gray muttered.

"Anyway, let's hurry." Natsu also muttered under his breath.

"Then I shall proceed." Virgo said, her eyes glowing red. She bowed once and debris erupted around her.

"She's digging!" Gray exclaimed, looking impressed.

"Good going Lucy!" Erza said, slamming her head into Erza's breastplate in an awkward, one-sided hug. Erza might think of it as a reward but others thought of it as a punishment.

As the debris settled, a deep hole in the ground presented itself. The Fairy Tail mages gathered around it.

"All right everyone, Get in" Gray turned around to see that Natsu had grabbed Kageyama's arm and was supporting the unconscious man. His eyes were brimming with determination. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving him to die after fighting him leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Natsu said as Ichigo walked up to him and took Kageyama's other arm. The beat up man opened his eyes for a second but promptly fell unconscious again. Erza smiled warmly, seeing that he had heard Natsu's words and caught a wind of their true meaning.

* * *

**After a bit, outside the barrier**

The wind blew hard. It was like being caught in a mini typhoon, everything flying everywhere and if you weren't careful, _you'd _be flying everywhere.

The wind was fierce but it was nothing compared to the whirlwind that was tearing through the mage's hearts as they climbed out of the hole, determination an unyielding force.

"WE'RE OUT!" Gray yelled at Erza over the deafening sound of the wall of wind.

"Hurry onwards!" She shouted as Kurami leapt up from the tunnel. She was the last one to escape.

"The wind is crazy!" Lucy shouted, holding down her hair.

"Princess! Your underwear can be seen!" Virgo shouted pulling down her mistress's skirt oblivious to her own frilly skirt fluffing up and making Gray's brain short circuit.

"How about worrying about yourself?" Lucy muttered back at her Celestial spirit. Kurami stood triumphantly with her hands on her hips, being the only woman in the group wearing pants.

"It's no use, you'll never be able to catch up now." Kageyama said from his position on the ground. "We…win."

Kurami's temper flared. Even after being betrayed and nearly killed by his own comrade, he was still loyal to Eisenwald. She then noticed something important. Where was the loud nuisance she had to put up with since she arrived in Fiore? Where was the comforting presence she had gotten used to over the past few days?

"Where's…Ichigo?" She said, her eyes widening. "And Natsu?"

"Happy's not here either." Gray said as if realizing something.

"Ahh! Ichigo!" Lucy called, running towards something, rather some_one, _lying on the floor a little ways away. "He's unconscious!"

"That Idiot." Kurami growled before taking off, grabbing Ichigo's body but completely forgetting about her own Gigai that was still somewhere in the building.

* * *

**Clover Canyon with Erigor**

The wind blew in his face as he flew towards the Guild masters waiting so patiently in Clover for him. A grin appeared on his face as he thought about what he was about to do.

"That's the town." Kageyama said, anticipation shining though his menacing demeanor. "Just you wait, you old geezers!"

A foot suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sent him flying down onto the railway tracks under him.

A person landed by his feet, looking ready to beat the shit out of him. As if he'd let the pink haired _Idiot _beat _him!_

A blue cat landed in his arms and the boy's face was transformed into one of worry. Another person landed by his head, his black shihakushou blowing in the strong wind and a giant sword in his hand.

"I can't fly anymore." Happy said, sweat pouring off his small body. "I used up my magic."

Ichigo tried not to show his surprise. _So the cat had magic…was that why it could fly?_

"Thanks to you, I could get here in time." Natsu said, smiling a little. "Good work."

"You bastard…" Erigor hissed, sitting up. "You're from fairy tail. What are you doing here?"

The words were directed at Natsu, which pissed Ichigo off. He was being ignored _again. _

A swift unexpected kick sent Erigor flying into one of the giant boulders jutting from the canyon below them. "Don't ignore me."

"Impressive." Natsu praised the substitute shinigami. "I knew you were strong."

With those words, he turned to look at the rock where Erigor had landed, his fists wrapped in flame.

* * *

**In the car with Erza, Lucy, Gray and Kageyama**

"Where did Kurami go? Her speed… she'd catch up to the two in no time." Erza focused on the road, well, tracks in front of her.

"Why did you have to take me?" Kageyama whined from inside the car.

"Because the town was deserted so we're taking to you a doctor in Clover." Lucy explained impatiently. "You should be grateful."

"No…"Kageyama said, looking pained. "I mean why did you save me? I'm your enemy."

Lucy frowned at his words.

"Oh I get it." Kageyama said, rambling. "You plan on using me as a bargaining chip with Erigor san. It's useless. He's as cold blooded as they come. He wouldn't do a thing for me."

"Woah…depressing." Lucy said.

"If you want to die, I can kill you." Gray said from his seat next to the Eisenwald mage.

"Gray!" Lucy scolded him.

"Not everything has to be decided by life or death, you know." Gray said, finally looking at the man in the seat next to him. "Think about the future a bit, you lot."

Suddenly, the car jostled and flung all the passengers into the air. Lucy was thrown into Kageyama while Gray was just hurled around.

"Erza?" He called out, sounding a little worried.

"Sorry about that, everything's fine." Erza called back to the passengers.

"Sorry!" Lucy said, sounding genuine.

"Don't shove your big ass in my face!" Kageyama yelled back at her, rubbing his sore nose.

At this Lucy screamed and forgot about being nice, "That's sexual harassment! Gray, Kill him!"

"Hey, don't make light of my words of wisdom." Gray said, turning away from a furious blonde haired mage.

Meanwhile, Erza was suffering from the effect of the sudden drain in her magical energy. She had been driving at the fastest speed she could, hoping to catch up with her three teammates as well as Erigor.

She noticed that her vision was getting cloudy, sweat was pouring off of her and there were bags under her eyes. _I would be useless in a fight in my condition, Natsu would have been able to handle the ace of Eisenwald alone,_ of that she was sure but she was still glad that he had two shinigami on his side.

_You must stop Erigor! _Erza thought urgently, hoping the message would somehow reach them. _You're our only hope; hold him off until we get there._

The car continued to run recklessly down the railroad track, the passengers praying for their comrade's safety.

* * *

**With Natsu, Erigor and Ichigo **

"Bring it, I'll incinerate you and that creepy flute!" Natsu said, his eyes alight with the thrill of the upcoming fight.

"You broke out of the magic wind wall?" Erigor said, his posture relaxed, " You flies are more annoying than I thought. Let me through, be gone."

Erigor raised his hand up and blasted a huge amount of wind that pushed Natsu back. Ichigo raised his sword and let it cut through the strong wind as if it had a solid substance.

The ace of Eisenwald tried to hide his surprise at the orange haired teen standing before him. He was strong enough to withstand his wind with little to no effort at all, how did he miss someone as strong as this guy was?

Debris came flying as Natsu was sent far back from the force of the wind. As soon as the wind scattered, the dragon slayer flew up into the air, using his flames to make him fly higher and dropped down to destroy the place Erigor had been standing only moments before.

Without missing a beat, Natsu jumped at Erigor and threw a punch, his fists coated with fire, and connected with Erigor's scythe.

_What? He jumps and punches with fire?_ The pink haired mage was no joke either, Erigor was in serious trouble but he was confident that he would win.

Erigor sensed, and dodged, just in time to miss fatally wounding himself on Ichigo's sharp blade. He could feel the blood trickle down his side and glared at the two males in front of him.

_The pink haired fly uses such force, I never thought a mage could punch like that…and the other one…the orange haired one…he disappears and reappears. His sword skills are impressive, I have to watch myself around these two. _

Erigor hovered in the air looking down at one pissed off mage and one completely impassive mage. What he never expected was to have to block the giant cleaver-like blade from up in the air.

The force sent him lower to the ground but not low enough for Natsu to reach him. Ichigo stood in the air above him; sword flung over his shoulder casually and black shihakushou flapping in the wind.

"Bastard…What kind of magic do you use?" Erigor asked, bewildered, "But it doesn't matter, I'll still beat the crap out of both of you!"

At that he raised his hand and set a giant tornado on Natsu. The dragon slayer was pulled up and spun around inside the furiously blowing winds.

"Natsu!" Both Ichigo and Happy shouted. A green magic circle appeared above the small body of Natsu's best friend. Wings sprouted from his back but disappeared a second later due to the faithful cat using up all his magic to help the dragon slayer get to the Eisenwald mage.

Natsu was shot out of the tornado like a cannonball and plummeted into the canyon, not being able to use magic to help him fly.

Knowing that the mage would be fine Ichigo turned towards the grinning dark mage. Without hesitating, he attacked. The shinigami's blows were sharp and fast, Erigor barely had enough time to block.

He blocked a blow to his right side only to be pushed back by another unnaturally fast punch to the stomach. Something exploded somewhere to his right and a giant hand made out of fire clamped onto the railway tracks, pulling Natsu up with it.

Erigor stared at the sudden display of the Pink haired mage's tremendous power. Ichigo merely smirked, he might not be as strong as Erza, Byakuya or Kenpachi but the guy wasn't a pushover either.

"That was close." Natsu looked down at his clenched fist, "Change the properties of fire, huh? I did it, Macao."

"What the hell was that?" Erigor said, stunned.

"Yo, Natsu. Did you have fun picking a fight with every boulder that you saw?" Ichigo said as Natsu took off his ruined shirt.

"You must be cold being all naked like that." Natsu called up to Erigor, "How about I warm you up?"

"You're not exactly wearing a parka either!"

"Why don't we beat the crap out of him and then return to the others?" Ichigo proposed, drawing a smile out of the dragon slayer.

"Great idea."

As soon as that was said, Ichigo appeared by Erigor's side and flung his sword, causing a giant explosion in the air.

Erigor fell like a rock straight into the path of Natsu's attack.

"Fire dragon's roar!" Natsu shouted as he brought his fists together and blew out a colossal pillar of flame at the dark mage.

The man landed headfirst into the railway, buried up to his waist with only his legs sticking out.

"That's the salamander Natsu for you!" Happy said, looking extremely proud of his partner.

Ichigo appeared by Natsu's side a second later, smirking, and high fived his teammate. "That last attack was impressive."

"Speak for yourself, what was that explosion?" Natsu asked, pleased that he was praised by the uptight teen.

"Huh? That?" Ichigo asked, looking puzzled. He brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his head. "That was the force of my swing…"

"What!?" Both Natsu and Happy exclaimed.

"Ichigo. Natsu." A female voice called out from behind them. They turned around to see Kurami standing a little ways away with her sword sheathed. "It's great to see you two bonding like this."

She smiled but neither of them failed to miss sarcasm and the dark aura that radiated off of the girl. They also saw that she seemed to be dragging something by the foot behind her.

"Is that…?" Ichigo asked.

"You should be more careful with your belongings, Ichigo." She was still smiling but the edge in her voice was more pronounced. She flung the body at Ichigo with one hand.

"How long have you been there?" Ichigo asked, getting back into his body.

"A while. By the way Natsu," The raven-haired teen said, turning to the boy, "That last attack was impressive."

Natsu beamed at her words, "I know—"

"Natsu!" Lucy called out from the vehicle that was approaching fast.

"You guys are late! The battle's already over!" Natsu called back, waving at them energetically.

Upon noticing the lack of her own gigai, Kurami's eyes widened and Ichigo snickered.

"You should be more careful with your belongings_, Kurami." _He teased and caught her fist as she punched him. Ichigo pulled the girl towards him, close enough so that their breaths mingled. "How would you live without me?"

As soon as he realized what he was doing, he let go and took several steps away, wondering _why the hell_ he did something so _stupid. _He had acted on instinct and look where that led him.

"Ichigo! What are you doing over there?" A voice called out from the team that had gathered around the vehicle. They quickly walked towards them, grateful to get out of an extremely awkward situation.

Lucy looked up from helping Erza as the two approached. "Ehh? Why are your faces red…?" She trailed off then suddenly looked back at them with a goofy smile.

"I think it's dangerous to let her imagination go wild…" Kurami muttered, making sure Ichigo heard her. He nodded in agreement but made no move to stop the fantasizing blonde teen.

_I can't believe Erigor san lost…_Kageyama thought but something shining caught his eye.

"I can't believe you needed help to defeat this weakling." Gray said, looking smugly at Natsu.

"Help? I would have done fine on my own!" Natsu shouted, taking the bait.

"Either way…you look like a pervert with just a scarf on your half naked body." Gray said, observing the pink haired teen's attire.

"I don't wanna be hearing that from you!" He instantly said then turned to the girls. "Lucy, give me your clothes."

"Why _me!_?" She screeched, pissed but soon started smiling again as she heard Erza laughing.

"Anyways, Splendid work, Natsu. Ichigo." She said proudly. "We've protected the master."

Erza paused to watch the looks of relief happiness and pride appear on the faces of her teammates. "Let's go to the meeting hall, we'll report what happened and let the masters dispose of the flute."

"Clover's not far from here!" Happy said cheerfully.

The mysterious flute on the ground twitched and rolled to the side, it's eyes glowing purple. A grin appeared on Kageyama's face.

"Look out!" Ichigo shouted as the vehicle flew over their heads; clawed shadows grabbed the flute holding it up in front of the maniacal driver.

His eyes narrowed as he saw a head of spiky black hair.

"You let your guard down, Flies!" He shouted down at the Fairy Tail mages. "I have Lullaby!"

The clawed hands whipped at the mages on the ground, scattering them.

Kurami's eyes widened as one of the shadows flew straight into her stomach. It felt like she was being hit by a large tree as the shadows barreled into her. The ground disappeared under her feet as she pitched over the side of the broken railway. The shinigami grabbed in vain at the orange haired teen in front of her but only succeeded in pulling him down with her.

She could imagine herself getting skewered on the jagged rocks at the bottom of the canyon and let herself wonder whether or not she would die since she was already, well, dead.

For the first time since she had entered this strange world, she felt…sad. Truly sad. She never let herself admit it but she was relieved to have entered this world with no known way of returning. She might have acted otherwise but here she knew she didn't have to be…herself, she could be someone completely different, someone better, someone who deserved to have friends and someone looking out for them. She wanted to start again, to be free.

She would _not _let this opportunity go to waste. "Ichigo!" She yelled, grabbing for him as they plunged into the canyon.

The wind lashed at them as they fell, faster and faster.

"My combat pass!" Ichigo yelled as he slammed into a rock, letting go of the wooden badge in the process.

"Almost there!" Kurami yelled, reaching for the pass. Her fingers wrapped around the old wooden object and she smiled. "Got it!"

A second later, an arm wrapped around her waist, successfully stopping her fall. She let out a huge breath,smiling warmly at the man, and relaxed.

"Are you okay!?" Lucy yelled from the railway tracks above them.

"Fine!" She yelled back, then lowered her voice and took a deep breath. "Thanks."

Ichigo nodded in return and, with a quick use of shunpo, appeared next to the group with a sick looking Kurami under his arm.

"We've got to hurry and catch up to Kageyama." Erza ordered after making sure the two shinigami were okay.

"After we saved the bastard…this is what he does to us?" Gray said, looking pissed.

"…This is what it feels like to be carried using Shunpo? I feel sick…Never, ever do it again." Kurami murmured at Ichigo. He gave her a smirk but focused on the task at hand.

* * *

**Later, in Clover with Kageyama**

Kageyama stood above the guild master's meeting hall, clinging onto a tree for support. He was still bandaged around his midsection where one of his guild mates tried to kill him but he paid no attention to it since he had a job to finish for his boss.

_Lullaby's tune should reach them from this distance without a problem. _Kageyama thought as he gazed down at the large brick building. _Finally, Finally the time has come!_

At the sound of a large wet kiss and laughter of an old man the spikey haired mage jumped, his spine tingling.

"These girls are quite the lookers, yes! Young mages these days have really upped their game in terms of skills and looks!" Makarov said, fully immersed in his sorcery weekly magazine, a light blush on his face. "Gravures are the best…No! I don't have time for this, I have to find them!"

Makarov got up from the rock he had been sitting cross-legged on and made to leave but turned as he finally noticed the Eisenwald mage behind him. His face was frozen in shock as he tried desperately to hide the magazine he had been fawning over.

"This is part of my studies, it's nothing to feel guilty about—"

_You don't have to make excuses…_Kageyama thought as he watched the master wave his arms about, panicked.

"Oh, you're a patient?" Makarov said, noticing Kageyama's bandages, "What the heck are you doing wandering around here?"

"Well…umm…" Kageyama said, grasping for words to say when he suddenly realized that he was talking to the Fairy Tail's master himself. _Is my fate chained to these flies? _

As Makarov started walking away again, the dark mage called out to him. "Would you like to hear me play? Patients aren't allowed to bring musical instruments to the hospital so, I just wanted someone to hear me play!"

Kageyama had spun an easy lie, believing to have fooled the powerful mage in front of him.

"That's one creepy flute you have there." Makarov remarked.

"It might look strange but it has a lovely tone." Kageyama hastily assured him.

"I'm in a hurry but…I suppose I can listen to one tune."

"Okay!" Kageyama said. _I win. _"Please listen carefully."

The man brought the flute up to his lips but paused, hesitating. In his mind he heard the voices of his guild mates, criticizing the legal guilds.

_Registered guilds are just a bunch of flashy guys._

_They're trying to look cool even though they're Talentless, that's all. _

_With this we'll lock ourselves on the road of darkness, and get our revenge on the people in the magical world that stole our livelihood! _

He brought the flute closer to his lips but paused again as he heard the voices of the Fairy Tail mages ringing in his ears.

_Even if you do that your right will not be restored! _

_Think about the future a little, will you? All of you. _

_Kage! We need your power!_

_Wasn't he an ally? Wasn't he in the same guild as you? _

_A guild is…family. How _dare _you lay a hand on your family? _

* * *

**A little ways away with Gray, Natsu, Lucy and Ichigo **

"There he is!" Gray shouted upon seeing Kageyama with their master.

"Gramps!" Natsu called out, alarmed but was shushed by none other than Master Bob. They all leapt back in fright as they beheld the master of Blue Pegasus.

"We're just getting to the good part. Just watch!" He said, seemingly unaffected by the mage's reactions. "And wow! You're all just so cute! … And totally my type!"

Lucy retreated to stand beside Erza and Kurami and watched in horror as Master Bob slowly shifted closer to the handsome trio.

"Who is this person?" Lucy said, still backing away.

"It's Master Bob." Erza replied.

"The master of Blue Pegasus?" Lucy exclaimed, not exactly believing the red haired mage's words.

"Erza chan you're all grown up!" He said, turning away from the boys he had bumped into the trees and facing the S-class mage.

* * *

**With Makarov and Kageyama**

"What's the matter? Hurry up and play it." Makarov said to the boy standing frozen with the death flute in his hands.

Kageyama gulped and brought the flute up to his mouth, looking unsure of his actions.

* * *

**With the Masters and fairy tail's strongest team **

"We can't let him!" Erza, Natsu and Gray shouted together.

"Like we already said, shut up! We're getting to the interesting part." A mysterious person said, leaning on a tree. His words stopped Erza from charging in but Natsu and Gray were trying to fight out of Master Bob's steely hold. Ichigo had cunningly escaped and never planned to be less than a meter away from the creepy Master at all times.

"It's the master of Quatro Cerberus!" Lucy exclaimed, looking shocked.

"Master Goldmine!" Erza added.

* * *

**With Makarov and Kageyama**

"Well?"

_Just blow. I just need to blow. If I do, everything will change! _ The dark mage thought but his hands were frozen in place.

"Nothing will change." Makarov said, looking the Eisenwald mage in the eye. "Weak humans will always be weak, no matter how long you wait. But weakness is not always a bad thing. Humans are weak creatures after all.

"Due to our insecurities, we form guilds. There, we form ties with allies and friends. In order to be strong in life, we bind together and progress. Those with less ability may run into more obstacles than others, and they may stray from their path but…as long as we believe in tomorrow and step forth, our strength will be naturally replenished.

"Living a strong life means being able to smile and laugh! And not relying on something like that flute."

Lullaby dropped to the ground. The sound was relief in itself to the anxious mages of Fairy tail and the worried Masters of guilds around Fiore.

"I give up." Kageyama said, admitting defeat.

"Master!"

"Gramps!" The loyal Fairy Tail members ran towards their master.

"Why are you here?" Makarov shouted, baffled.

"Excellent as always!" Erza proclaimed, slamming Makarov's head into her breastplate. "Those words were so moving!"

"Damn hard!" Makarov screeched, tears falling from his eyes.

"And that settles that." Gray said, looking pleased with himself. All around him, the mages and masters were celebrating, happy they had possibly saved the collection of strongest mages in Fiore.

"You were great, Gramps!"

"Stop patting my head!" Makarov turned to the shinigami. "By the way, who are you?"

"They're part of our guild, master." Erza answered.

"When did we get such a pretty mage?" Makarov said, looking at Kurami up and down.

"That's right! You weren't there when they joined!" Erza said, finally realizing. "This is Ichigo and K— She doesn't remember her name."

"Amnesia?"

"Yes…" The raven-haired girl said, moving to stand slightly behind Ichigo. Goosebumps appeared on her arms.

Suddenly, the death flute Lullaby started spewing black smoke and a frightening voice floated above the celebrating mages, making them halt. "A bunch of cowardly mages, the bunch of you!"

"Something's coming out!" Happy said as the mages in the immediate vicinity watched with stupefied faces.

A giant magical circle appeared above the flute in the sky, purple lighting flashing here and there.

The nearby army looked up in fear. "What the hell is that?"

"I can't stand it anymore," The layered voice of the flute bellowed. "I'll devour you myself!"

Light flared from the giant magic circle and ugly brown legs shook the ground. The creature had the appearance of large dead trees banding together to form clawed arms and legs. Its head had three hollow eyes in it that glowed purple, just like the death flute.

"Ichigo, it's big but…not as big as a menos grande." Kurami whispered to the substitute shinigami.

"You're right but we don't know how much power this thing has." He said, moving to grab his combat pass.

"The air… it feels…_Foul_. It's heavy and dirty." Kurami warned the orange haired teen next to her.

"All of your bastard souls, that is!" Lullaby screamed at them with a smile on it's grotesque face.

"It's way too big!" Lucy shouted.

"_That's _what you complain about?" Happy asked.

"What _is_ this thing?" Kageyama shouted, bewildered. "I had no idea about this!"

"Oh, we're in trouble." Master Bob remarked with a smile on his face.

"This is a demon from the book of Zeref." Goldmine determined. They looked up at the creature with a new found fear in their eyes.

"Why did the flute turn into that monster?" Lucy asked.

"That flute _is _Lullaby." Goldmine answered. "In other words, it's Living magic. That is Zeref's magic."

"Living magic?" Erza asked.

"Zeref? That guy from ancient times?" Gray said.

"The Dark Mage Zeref was the most evil mage in the history of the Magical World!" Master Bob explained. "I can't believe his legacy, sealed centuries ago would appear now!"

The giant Demon bent forwards, bringing its ugly face closer to the six Fairy Tail members. "Now, which one of you should I devour first?"

"What did you say?" Natsu said, looking annoyed then turned to Gray and Ichigo. "Are souls tasty, anyway?"

"How should I know, and don't ask me!" Gray said, pissed.

_I figured that he'd be wondering about it. _Lucy thought.

"Natsu, Gray, move everyone away." Erza ordered as Ichigo Ejected his soul from his body. They looked at him, dumbfounded them jumped as Erza asked them again with new ferocity in her voice.

The army prepared to charge, believing their might to be absolute. "Charge!"

"Back off, small fry!" Lullaby shouted then shot a beam of light towards the troops. Light enveloped them and a nearby mountain exploded.

"Captain, the mountain disappeared!" One of the soldiers informed the man in charge of their battalion.

"What?" The man said, panicked, "R-Retreat!"

The giant monster watched as the army ran away with their tails between their legs. "Okay, I've decided! I'm going to eat _all of your souls, you pitiful mages!" _

"Sounds like fun, go ahead and try it!" Natsu provoked.

"You can do it..." The masters cheered unenthusiastically, sounding like they did not believe their words a single bit.

"What do the five of them plan to do by themselves?" Lucy wondered, worried.

"What about you, Lucy?" Happy piped up.

"I'm fresh out of Celestial spirits today and I might hold everyone back, you see…"

"Excuses."

"Shut up, Cat!"

The monster roared, it's deafening voice echoing and bringing the unprepared masters and mages to their knees.

"What a horrible voice." Bob said.

"What is this feeling?" Lucy managed to say, covering her ears with her hands.

"It's started." Goldmine remarked, calm at the prospect of _possibly dying. _

"It's Lullaby!" one of the masters exclaimed with panic, covering is ears in the same manner as almost every other mage there. Makarov just smiled, looking forwards to the show. "Our souls are being devoured!"

"Let's go!" Erza ordered, a sword appearing in her hand. Kurami merely grabbed Ichigo's body, fully intending to sit this one out. She heaved the body over her shoulder and started walking towards Lucy with not a care in the world.

"Right!" The three boys rushed at the monster with smiles on their faces.

"Ex-quip!" Erza called out and her body started glowing. Light flashed and it was revealed that she had chosen her Heaven's wheel's armor. "The knight!"

She sent two large slashes at the monster but it barely did any damage. Erza leapt back just in time to avoid being hit out of the sky by a large hand.

Gray stood on the ground, one fist in the palm of his other hand and a look of pure concentration etched on his face. "Ice make, Lance!"

Large stems of ice shot at the monster and a cloud of snow erupted from its belly however, it barely blinked at the attack. Gray scowled.

It was Natsu's turn. He stared down the demon, determination radiating off of him. "Take this! Fire dragon's fist!" The attacked pushed the demon back a little bit, but not much.

"Tsk. Look after the bodies, Lucy." The shinigami ejected her soul from her body and took a few steps forwards.

"He's punching with fire!" One of the Masters said, awed.

"And that one, he's an Ice Mage!" another said.

"She's ex-quipping armor!" They all seemed impressed at the Fairy Tail mage's attacks. The monster _was _being pushed back, albeit slowly.

Kurami used shunpo to appear beside the stoic Ichigo. "I thought you'd be having a good go at that thing."

"I thought the same thing about you." Ichigo replied, not taking his eyes off the creature.

"That's why I'm here." She said, smiling in anticipation.

She was interrupted by a loud screech of fury from Lullaby. "You're really pissing me off now!" It said, trying to swat the three attacking mages. The ground rumbled with the force of that one blow and debris was sent flying.

Kurami smiled once before disappearing, appearing again above the head of the creature. She swung down once, and the creature screamed in pain, not expecting the attack in the least. The wound, however, was only a light scratch.

"_Not_ like a Gillian then…" She murmured. She smiled slightly as a larger, deeper wound appeared around the monster's midsection. "Holding back is such a pain in the ass."

"So fast…did she teleport? But that doesn't explain everything else." One of the masters said, bewildered. "That boy is the same."

Not long after another light slash appeared on the monster's arm as Erza attacked. Kurami watch as Gray laughed a volley of Ice bullets at the demon and Natsu commenced his Fire Dragon's wing attack.

"I've never seen such a combination attack before!" Kageyama uttered, astonished.

"Their movements are perfectly in sync!" Lucy looked excited as she watched what Mira believed was Fairy Tail's strongest team fight off one of Zeref's demons.

The monster roared again, tilting its face up towards the sky and the magical circle above it disappeared.

"I have a bad feeling about this!" Lucy was suddenly worried.

"Here comes lullaby!" Happy grabbed some corks out of god-knows-where and blocked his ears with it, believing it could possibly save his life.

Before anything could happen, however, Kurami appeared on the ground a few hundred meters away from then and held her sword horizontally in front of her _I will_ not _let you kill these people._

"Bankai."

A powerful wind blew around the shinigami, boasting of her power. Lucy had to shade her eyes from the sheer force of the girl releasing her weapon.

"Jikan no Mon, Karitori Tenshi."

Inside the tornado of wind was Kurami, a giant black scythe in her hands. She was holding it like it weighed nothing but the size said otherwise. It was a beautiful scythe with the design of a wing made out of obsidian crystals.

It reminded Lucy of a black wing. _Raven! That was it, the word that has been bugging me since I saw her fight for the first time. _

"What power! Who is this mage? What kind of magic _is _this?"

"Do not mock me!" the creature bellowed, enraged_. _It went on a rampage, destroying anything in its immediate sight. The demon looked towards the cluster of mages and sent a beam of light at them. A large wall of fire suddenly erupted in front of the cowering mages. Lucy braced herself for the pain of the attack but when she felt nothing, she looked up to see that gray had created a shield of Ice to protect them.

"So fast!" an elderly master with a pointy had and staff remarked. "He can use maker magic to create something so large instantly?"

"Maker magic?" Lucy echoed.

"Magic that gives form to magical power. There's also magic that can steal form away."

Happy watched, entranced as the fire suddenly receded. Lucy looked around for the cause and found that Natsu had eaten all the flames.

The demon roared again and the plants around it started withering.

"The plants…" Lucy started.

"Lullaby is absorbing them!"

"I'll be dining on your souls!" It screamed. At that moment, Kurami moved. She brought her scythe down in a giant arc and carved a long wound on the monster's chest.

"Ichigo!" She shouted as she brought the demon to it knees. None of the mages knew what was happening or why Lullaby suddenly stopped. The demon screamed in pain and Kurami couldn't stop the laugh that had been building inside of her from the moment she released her bankai.

She watched, keeping the monster from trying anything stupid as Ichigo prepared an attack of his own. Reiatsu erupted in a column around him and his eyes glowed blue. "Getsuga Tensho!"

He launched all his power at the creature at once. The creature bellowed again as the getsuga tensho ripped through it and cleaved the demon in half, as well as anything that happened to be a few miles behind the monster.

The mages stared in awe as the demon started to dissolve into blue flecks that rose into the night sky. The flute also evaporated, leaving no trace of Lullaby left.

"A-amazing." Kageyama said, slightly intimidated. "So this is what a Fairy Tail mage is all about?"

"As expected from the strongest team, they're super cool!" Lucy announced.

"Aye! Though…I didn't expect the two newbies to be so strong…" Happy stated thoughtfully.

Makarov was speechless. _The power these two mages have are…inconceivable. I have to watch over them, I'm glad they decided to join Fairy Tail; the thought of having them in any other guild is unimaginable. _

The other masters watched the black clad figure with a giant cleaver-like sword with wide eyes. This man used a type of magic never seen before, they weren't even sure it _was _magic. _And the girl, what did she do to Lullaby?_

"Excellent." The small master of Fairy Tail praised the beaming five mages in front of him.

"Wonderful." Goldmine added, smiling. "I don't know the details but I guess we owe Fairy Tail one."

"But that's…" one of the masters said.

Erza turned around with a shocked expression on her face.

"They overdid it!" Everyone shouted in unison. The guild master's hall was completely obliterated and so were a few mountains. There was a giant scar in the ground where Ichigo had aimed his getsuga tensho.

"Ichigo…I think you changed the geography of this place a little too much…" Kurami said, interestedly eyeing the canyon Ichigo had created.

"Were did the meeting hall go?" Lucy asked innocently.

"Aye! A mountain or two are gone!"

Master Makarov finally snapped and his soul flew out from his body. It was too much dealing with the destruction his guild causes everywhere they go.

"Master!"

"Something flew out!"

Natsu laughed, "We destroyed it magnificently!"

"This is no laughing matter!" A bunch of masters shouted at them. Kurami merely studied the new landscape while Ichigo hung his head in shame and Erza ran chasing after Makarov's soul.

"Kids take after their parents, you know?" Goldmine said, an amused smile on his face.

"Brings back memories of when _we _were active." Bob added.

"N-no way." Kage said, referring to the damage only six mages had caused.

"You look just like I did when I was young, Kage chan!" Master Bob continued. "I sure had a lot of fun back then, we did a lot of crazy stuff and the council was always mad at us! Kage chin, you look just like me!"

"No way!"

"Anyway, you should be able to understand a bit now." Goldmine started.

"About how guilds can be fun!" Master Bob finished.

"Something came out." Kage's soul had drifted off in a similar manner to Makarov's soul.

"Oh my."

"All right! I'll capture them!" Natsu said, sounding enthusiastic.

"_You're _the one we're trying to capture!" a chorus of exasperated voices rose up to shout at the pink haired dragon slayer.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, dumbass." Ichigo said, bringing his fist down on Natsu's head. Kurami laughed and turned to Lucy, sheathing her now sealed sword.

"Raven."

"Hm?"

"Your new name! I've decided, We can't have you nameless forever!"

"I...like it. Raven..." She said as they started running away from the angry mob of Masters chasing after them.

* * *

**Thanks for reading and again, I'm so sorry. Please review (nicely), I could really use your views, thoughts and advice. I can't seem to get Ichigo's character right! It's driving me insane! **


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